
Class \ ' 's.. "' 

Book > i 8 G 



Gopyright}^^_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSnV 



>^-€«^, ^ 



MEXICO TO-DAY AND 
TO-MORROW 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

NEW VORK • BOSTON - CHICAGO • DALLAS 
ATLANTA ■ SAN FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN & CO., Limited 

LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Ltd. 

TORONTO 



MEXICO 

TODAY AND TO-MORROW 



BY 

E> D. TROWBRIDGE 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

1919 

All rights reserved 



Copyright. 1919 
By the MACMILLAN COMPAITY 



Set up and electrotyped. Published January, 1919. 



29 1919 
^■oI;A51I457 



PEEFACE 

We have, in the United States, a very confused idea 
of what has been happening in Mexico during the past 
seven or eight years. Beyond knowing that there have 
been revolutions and counter-revolutions, with a mass of 
disorder, and that we have, two or three times, been on 
the verge of war with our next door neighbor, we know 
little of what it is all about. In the following pages 
I have endeavored to give a general idea of the social, 
industrial, political and economic conditions which 
have prevailed in Mexico since the fall of the Diaz re- 
gime in 1911, and to outline briefly some of the prob- 
lems which confront the country. 

I have not attempted, in this work, anything like a 
complete history of Mexico, but I have felt that, for a 
full understanding of present-day conditions, it is essen- 
tial to examine early Mexican history and the history of 
Spanish rule and subsequent events insofar as these 
periods have affected national life. In dealing with 
events antedating what may be termed modern Mexico 
I have made no attempt at original research, and, so 
far as concerns anything prior to 1900, the work here 
presented is a repetition or reflection of the findings or 
opinions of Fiske, Prescott, Bancroft, Luis Perez Verdia 
and other authorities. The story of subsequent events is 
based largely on personal experience or observation, and 
on opinions formed through contact with all classes of 
Mexican society. I have endeavored, in the hope of 
aiding in a better understanding of the whole situation, 



PREFACE 

to present tlie Mexican viewpoint, as well as that of the 
outsider, on questions of domestic affairs and foreign 
relations. 

I wish to express my thanks to Senores Luis Cabrera, 
Ignacio Bonillas, Carlos Basave, Eduardo del Easo, 
Eafael IsTieto, V. M. Gutierrez, J. M. Cardenas and 
other Mexican friends for facilities given me for obtain- 
ing data; to Mr. George F. Weeks of Washington for 
chronological data ; and to Mr. C. W. Van Law of Bos- 
ton for valuable suggestions. 

Edwaed D. Tkowbeidge. 
Detroit, December 9, 1918. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I Ancient Mexico and the Aztecs .... 1 

n Aztec Civilization 10 

III The Montezumas 22 

IV The Spanish Conquest 31 

V Spanish Mexico 39 

VI Independence 60 

VII Madame Calderon De La Barca 61 

Vm American War — French Occupation ... 80 

IX Porfirio Diaz 91 

X The Cientipicos 97 

XI Social Conditions 105 

XII Hygienic Conditions 115 

XIII Agrarian and Other Problems 119 

XIV Madero 130 

XV Huerta 140 

XVI ^ Carranza — Villa — Zapata 151 

XVn Difficult Conditions 167 

XVIII Carranza and His Troubles 179 

XIX The New Constitution . 202 

XX Constitutional Government . . . . . 222 

XXI FiNANCML Needs 233 

XXII Mexico and the World War 247 

XXIII Mexico and Foreign Capital 261 

XXIV Agrarian and Other Problems 273 



MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW 

CHAPTER I 
ANCIENT MEXICO AND THE AZTECS 

Mexico is a land of vivid, startling contrasts. The 
great Mexican Plateau is a region bathed in perpetual, 
brilliant sunshine; the Mexican tropical forests are 
vast, somber jungles into which the sunshine barely fil- 
ters. It is a land of mystery, and a land of common- 
place dirt and existence. Areas of fabulously rich soil 
contrast with arid desert regions. In Mexican history 
there are, on the one hand, romance, adventure, chiv- 
alry, sacrifice, lofty ideals; on the other, oppression, 
cruelty, sordid ambition, pestilence. Great wealth 
confronts the direst poverty. The lights are always 
strong, the shadows always dark. 

Much has been written of Mexican history, of the 
early architecture, of the Spanish conquest, of wars and 
revolutions, of industrial growth and possibilities. 
The purpose of these works has been to make scientific 
examination of the life of early American peoples, to 
give purely chronological relation of the course of 
events in the country, or to treat the question from the 
viewpoint of world developments in commerce and in- 
dustry. Little has been written from the viewpoint of 
the social life of the Mexican people. It is intended in 
the following pages, to attempt to give some idea of the 
conditions of the life of the people, of the factors which 

1 



2 MEXICO TO-DAY Al!^D TO-MOEEOW 

led up to the turbulent years through which Mexico has 
passed, and of the problems which confront the coun- 
try. It is necessary, however, in order to reach an un- 
derstanding of present conditions, to review early his- 
tory, and that of the Spanish rule in Mexico, in so far 
as these have influenced the development of the social 
conditions of the people. 

Who the original inhabitants of Mexico were, and 
where they came from, are questions veiled in impene- 
trable mystery. We are apt to think of the Aztecs as 
the early people of Mexico. They, however, were rela- 
tively late comers. In 18Y0 there was found at Te- 
quizquiac, in a geological formation of the JSTezoic pe- 
riod (the period of fauna gigantica), a skull of a cow, 
carved in stone, and human bones have been found in 
old geological formation, indicating that the country 
was inhabited at a very remote period. The first his- 
toric period in Mexico was that in which the great stone 
monuments and temples were erected by the Itzaes, a 
race whose civilization spread over Central America 
and thence along the West Coast of South America. 
The monuments, constructed of huge blocks of stone, 
were covered with rich carvings having many of the 
characteristics of the Assyrian and early Egyptian 
monuments. The carvings are historical records, with 
figures and gTOups of figures used much as hieroglyphics 
were used by the Egyptians, and while some, by anal- 
ogy or by traditions picked up by early Spanish priests, 
have been deciphered, the key to this lost ideographic 
language has never been found. In general, the early 
monuments may be grouped into three divisions : 
Those of the Itzaes, in Yucatan and Central America ; 
those of the Mixtecos and Zapotecos, branches of the 
Maya race, in Mitla, (in the State of Oaxaca), at 
Xochicalco, (in the State of Morelos) and at various 



ANCIEITT MEXICO ANT) THE AZTECS 3 

points in tlie States of Puebla and Guerrero ; and those 
of the Toltecs, including the great pyramids erected at 
Teotihuacan, pyramids at Cholula and other points, 
and the rnins of great temples and buildings at 
ToUan (Tula), all points within a hundred miles of 
Mexico City. Some of the carvings in Yucatan seem 
to indicate that the Itzaes came from the East, which, 
if true, would give them ISTorth African or Asiatic 
origin. These people were star worshipers, and had 
a theocratic form of government. They built, as a 
capital, the city of Palenque, in Yucatan, whose ruins 
constitute the most elaborate found in the new world. 
Palenque probably antedates the Christian era by one 
thousand to two thousand years. 

The Itzaes were succeeded, perhaps overthrown, by 
the Mayas, whose origin is also lost in obscurity. The 
Mayas were of the Nahoa family. All legendary and 
monumental records indicate that this race came from 
the North, and probably settled in Yucatan in the early 
centuries of the Christian era. Definite Mexican his- 
tory begins with the Toltecs. Luis Perez Verdia, whose 
work, " Historia de Mexico," qualifies him to speak 
with authority, says that the Toltecs were settled in 
California, north of the Gila Eiver, at a very early 
date, and that their earliest legends and traditions indi- 
cated that they were of Asiatic origin. Perhaps they 
came from the far ISTorth, after following the chain of 
islands along the Bering Sea. In any event, they had a 
capital called Chalchicatzincan, probably in California. 
After some civil strife, seven chiefs, with a large fol- 
lowing, started South at a date computed to be 544 a. d. 
They moved from time to time, finally establishing the 
town of Tollanzinco in 645, later, in 661, establishing 
their capital at Tollan (Tula), fifty miles from the 
present Mexican capital. Here they built a great city, 



4 MEXICO TO-DAY Al^B TO-MOEROW 

grew in numbers and power, and finally dominated the 
whole of the Mexican Valley region. Their govern- 
ment, which had been a tribal one headed by two chiefs, 
and five sub-chiefs, was changed into an absolute mon- 
archy. 

In any attempts to study the very early history of 
Mexico one of the difiiculties of determining anything 
as to the age of monuments is due to the tropical and 
semi-tropical plant life. Buildings, once abandoned, 
soon disappear under the profusion of foliage, and 
only chance excavation brings to light what may have 
been an important city centuries ago. At ISTecaxa, in 
the State of Puebla, some American engineers engaged 
on a large construction job, undertook to open up a 
large mound, evidently some sort of a ruin. On digging 
down six feet they found the walls of a Toltec temple, 
which they uncovered. The building was of massive 
hewn stone, paved with heavy flagstones. One of the 
latter was out of place, and, on digging into the hole 
where it had been the investigators found a small 
earthen jar containing two sixpence pieces of George 
III! The building had evidently been used, prob- 
ably as a residence, as late as the latter part of the 
eighteenth century, but was so deeply buried in loam 
that the tops of its walls were six feet below the sur- 
face. On the great Mexican plateau, with its altitude 
of 8,000 feet, plant life is not so luxuriant, and monu- 
ments of ancient days do not disappear in this way. 
However, much of the carved or written record of an- 
cient days has been blotted out by the fanaticism of the 
Conquerors. 

During the Toltec domination another race, the 
Chichimeca, had probably settled in the Mexico Val- 
ley. Their origin is obscure, and little is kno^vn of 
them save that they came from the IsTorth. Whether 



AN"CIENT MEXICO Al^D THE AZTECS 5 

they succeeded to the power of the Toltecs through 
prosperity due to tribal growth and energy, or whether 
they were invaders who overthrew the Toltecs, is not 
clear. The Toltec rule ended in 1116, perhaps some- 
what earlier, and there is a lapse of some years to 1170, 
when, according to the best evidence, the history of 
Chichimec rule began. In any event, the Chichimecs 
apparently came in great numbers, divided into several 
distinct tribes which settled around the borders of the 
Valley Lakes. Of these tribes the Acolhuans, later 
known as the Tezcucans, were the most powerful, and 
their chief exercised a sort of feudal control over the 
other tribes. The Acolhuans settled at Texcoco, where, 
before long, their crude huts, built of reeds, gave way 
to buildings of brick and stone, and the foundations 
were laid for a permanent and powerful government. 
The Xochimilcos settled south of Lake Chalco, the 
Tepanecs at Atzcapozalco, the Chalcos east of Lake 
Chalco, and the Tlaxcaltecs on the shore of Lake Tex- 
coco. The Tlaxcaltecs, due to tribal warfare, withdrew 
early, settling at Tlaxcallan. Of the remaining, the 
Acolhuans outstripped the others, and their capital, 
Texcoco, soon became the -most important place in the 
whole of Mexico Valley. This city is credited with 
having had 200,000 inhabitants, living in 30,000 
houses. As the Tezcucans developed picture writing 
to a high degree a good deal of their history has been 
preserved. Ixtlilxochitl, a descendant of the royal fam- 
ily, early in the days of Spanish rule wrote an ex- 
haustive history of the Kingdom. Ixtlilxochitl, fortu- 
nately, lived at a period so close to the days of Tezcu- 
can domination that he was able to get much accurate 
information as to the conditions of the life of the 
people, social customs, and so forth. We have, there- 
fore, a graphic picture of a civilization, quite highly 



6 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKKOW 

developed in many respects, existing at a period when 
the greater portion of the continent was occupied only 
by savages. The royal palace, which included all pub- 
lic buildings, covered a tract of land three quarters of 
a mile long by half a mile wide. The royal quarters 
were luxuriously embellished with alabaster walls and 
beautiful tapestries of feather work. In the courts 
were many varieties of trees, and there existed quite 
elaborate buildings devoted to specimens of animal and 
bird life. There was also an aquarium containing 
specimens of fish of the kingdom, and many fish brought 
from distant points. An elaborate system of courts 
was established, and something of education was at- 
tempted under the care of the priesthood. The great- 
est development of the kingdom was under I^ezahual- 
coyotl, who died in 1470. 

The Aztecs, another race from the ISTorth, probably 
from California, started wandering southward some 
time in the twelfth century. Traces of their migration 
are found in Arizona, then in ISTew Mexico and finally 
in Northern Mexico. At Casas Grandes, in the State 
of Chihuahua, they built a great city, and the com- 
bination palace and citadel, a building or group of 
buildings of brick, eight hundred feet long by two 
hundred and fifty feet wide, was, in part, six or seven 
stories high — probably the first sky-scraper on the 
continent. The movements of this tribe from Casas 
Grandes southward are easily traced. The tribe even- 
tually arrived in the lake region of the Mexico Valley, 
but, as all fertile tracts were already occupied, had to 
content itself on an island marsh in Lake Texcoco. It 
is improbable that this spot would have been selected but 
for the fact that according to tradition an Aztec wise 
man had said that the people would not settle per- 
manently until they found an eagle and a serpent to- 



ANCIEN^T MEXICO ANT> THE AZTECS 7 

gether. Consequently, wlien in their wanderings they 
found an eagle devouring a serpent they decided to stay 
and make the best of a bad location. They had a hard 
time of it, as marshes had to be reclaimed to give them 
any soil to cultivate. Moreover, the neighboring tribes 
did not want any more people in the valley, and were 
hostile to a point of persecution. The new people, how- 
ever, were hardy and tenacious, and, having come more 
recently from a country where they were in battle 
with climatic conditions, they were stronger, man for 
man, than those around them. They stuck to it, man- 
aged to hold what they had, and soon had a settlement 
of a permanent character. Arriving at the lake in 
1325, by the end of the century they were influential, 
and their capital, Tenochtitlan, was of almost equal 
importance with Texcoco. In a war between the Tezcu- 
cans and Tepanecs they came in, at a critical moment, 
as allies of the former, and helped in the annihilation, 
in 1428, of Tepanec power. As a reward they were 
given a large part of the conquered territory. 

Shortly after this there was formed an alliance, of- 
fensive and defensive, between the Aztecs, Tezcucans. 
and Tlacopans. By the terms of the Alliance the three 
contracting parties were to act together for defensive 
purposes, and were to divide, in proportions of two- 
fifths, two-fifths and one-fifth, all the spoils of war. 'No 
offensive could be undertaken without the consent of 
at least two of the allies. Each kingdom contitiued 
a separate and independent rule, and was at liberty to 
go on with its own development, and the three were 
allied only for military purposes. At first the Tezcu- 
cans probably dominated the alliance, but later the 
Aztecs took the lead. It is a somewhat remarkable fact, 
considering the possibilities of trouble over division of 
spoils, that the alliance thus formed continued for more 



8 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW 

than a century, and was, in fact, only overcome by the 
Spanish conquest. The alliance was of the greatest im- 
portance in the subsequent history of the country, not 
only because of its strength but because, in the use of 
that strength, it created many enemies and paved the 
way for foreign interference. 

The Aztecs, early in their history in the valley, were 
called Mexicans, from their patron deity, Mexitli. 
As they became the dominating military factor and the 
leading political power the subsequent operations of 
the alliance may be considered as of Aztec or Mexican 
character, and will be treated as such. 

The Mexican rule, or, more correctly, the Mexican 
domination, was now extended rapidly in all directions. 
It extended east to the Gulf of Mexico, and up and 
down the Gulf for perhaps two hundred and fifty miles. 
Toward the south it extended two hundred miles or 
more, on the west it touched the Pacific Ocean, and on 
the north it took in practically the whole of the Mex- 
ican plateau. Altogether, considering the primitive na- 
ture of its people and the humble origin of the domi- 
nating nation, it was an extensive country. The great 
point of weakness in the scheme was, however, that 
power was not centralized. Each conquered tribe was 
left to itself and subjected only to paying tribute. Con- 
sequently, nothing in the way of a national spirit or 
power was developed. In fact, the tendency under this 
scheme was to increase tribal jealousy and hatred, and to 
throw the subject peoples into any strong combination 
which might give promise of relief from immediate 
troubles. There was nothing in this so-called empire to 
suggest the rule of the Romans, who, on vanquishing a 
foe, immediately set about to build up, not a tributary- 
nation, but rather a distinctly Roman province. The 



AI^CIEI^T MEXICO AND THE AZTECS 9 

situation might be compared to that of the world-wide 
empire set up by Alexander^ who conquered, exacted 
tribute and moved on, leaving a hundred petty king- 
doms in his wake. 



CHAPTER II 
AZTEC CIVILIZATION 

From early days the Toltecs had. developed a rela- 
tively high civilization. They made much progress in 
agriculture, knew something of astronomy, formulated 
a calendar, had an ideographic system of writing, and 
understood something of government. It would be 
tedious to attempt any classification, in chronological 
order, of the social and economic development made by 
the succeeding nations. It is, however, important to 
understand, in a general way, the social conditions ex- 
isting at the time of the Spanish Conquest. In de- 
scribing these conditions no attempt will be made to 
differentiate between Toltec, Tezcucan or Mexican civ- 
ilizations, the three being treated as common to all. 
The Toltecs and Tezcucans had hereditary monarchs, 
while the Aztec monarchy was elective. Due to this 
and to other conditions there were minor differences in 
laws and in social customs, but the civilization may, 
for the purpose of this work, be considered as Mexican, 
especially as the Mexicans largely dominated at the 
time of the conquest. 

The Spaniards, on coming to Mexico, found little 
to learn from the Mexicans as to agriculture, and, in 
fact, had much to teach them. It must be remembered, 
however, that agriculture in Spain had been developed 
to a very high point by the Moors, and that, agTicul- 
turally, they were at that time easily the first nation in 
the world. It seems probable, from all the data avail- 

10 



AZTEC CIVILIZATIOIT 11 

able, that Mexican progress in agriculture was up to 
the average of most European countries. They not 
only tilled the soil, but they understood and developed 
irrigation. In hilly country the ground was terraced, 
not only to utilize all available land but to prevent 
such land, once cultivated, from being washed away in 
heavy rains. Corn was raised everywhere, and there 
was a great variety of vegetables. Various spices were 
raised, and, as a substitute for sugar there were the 
products of different plants. Cacao (chocolate) was 
grown in the tierra caliente (hot country) and was in 
general use. Great quantities of cotton were grown, 
and cotton cloths, from the coarsest to the finest, were 
to be had in all parts of the country. The products of 
other plants were used for making other textiles, and 
skins and furs were made useful by tanning and treat- 
ment. A good grade of paper similar to papyrus was 
made from the fiber of the maguey plant. 

Gold and silver were used for ornaments, and were 
wrought and carved with considerable skill. Pearls 
were brought from the Gulf of California, and were 
much prized. Emeralds, turquoises, opals and other 
precious and semi-precious stones were also used for 
ornaments, but were usually in the rough, due to the 
absence of hard enough materials with which to cut 
them. For purposes of ornamentation, both in the 
way of personal decoration and for household use, 
feather work desigTis were much used, and in this dainty 
art the Mexicans excelled. The gorgeously colored 
feathers of tropical birds were used in immense quanti- 
ties for this purpose, and the artisans were so skillful 
that the most intricate and delicate designs were put 
into tapestries or on cloths for wearing apparel. 

There was no phonetic alphabet, but an ideographic 
system of writing had existed from very early days, and 



12 MEXICO TO-DAY AI^D TO-MORKOW 

had been developed to a point where, with the use of 
conventional hieroglyphics, much could be expressed in 
writing. In the earlier days this mode of expression 
appears to have been confined to stone carving, but later 
a vast amount of picture writing was done. The Mex- 
icans developed this to its highest point by superimpos- 
ing a color scheme on the original method of written 
expression. This gave " them greater flexibility, as a 
figure in black would mean one thing, while the same 
figure in blue would mean something else, or perhaps 
indicate a difl^erent state of the first object. Thus, a 
disc could mean the sun, a white disc the rising sun, 
a black disc the setting sun, a disc half-painted white 
midday, and so on through an endless number of com- 
binations. A footprint meant traveling, a tongue 
meant speaking, and a man seated indicated an earth- 
quake. Many of the signs were seemingly arbitrary, 
but doubtless due to some association of ideas. Thus, 
the serpent was used to represent time. This, while 
apparently arbitrary, was doubtless due to the idea of 
the noiseless speed with which time glides by. 

The zeal of the Spaniards for religion was as great 
as their avarice for gold, and their first acts in Mexico 
were to destroy the old temples. As temple walls were 
covered with picture writing, all documents and parch- 
ments were considered as part of an idolatrous worship 
and were promptly destroyed. One early prelate made 
a huge collection of picture writings solely for the pleas- 
ure of burning them all at once in a huge bonfire ! Pos- 
sibly in this very fire perished the key to the whole 
language. At all events, in the first few years the 
Spanish destroyed every piece of writing found, and 
only after their first fanatic fury was exhausted did they 
realize what they had done. Then the priests began to 
decipher such manuscripts as turned up, either by use of 



AZTEC CIVILIZATI0:N^ 13 

such, other documents as they had or by combining them 
with traditional history. Thanks, then, to the same 
church which destroyed the greater part of the written 
records, some of the old manuscripts remain and are use- 
ful in forming an idea of the history and life of the 
people. That there was a clearly defined if intricate 
means of expressing thoughts in writing is certain, and 
that this had been developed, not merely to represent 
single ideas but to record past events with careful refer- 
ence to their chronological order, is also certain. The 
people, then, had long passed the stage of living the day 
for itself, and had developed in thought to a point where 
they wished to record what had gone before. In other 
words, they had made a great step in civilization, not 
only in agriculture and in the development of comforts, 
but also in thought. How rapidly they reached this 
stage is uncertain, but from their knowledge of astron- 
omy it seems probable that the process took many cen- 
turies. 

The movements of the sun, moon and planets must 
have been observed and recorded for many years, for 
they had a remarkable knowledge of the revolutions of 
the different bodies. Their calendar was amazingly 
accurate, although worked out on a totally different basis 
than ours. The year was divided into eighteen months 
of twenty days each, and each year five extra days were 
added. This gave them a year of 365 days. To make 
up the actual loss in time extra days were added during 
each cycle, 13 in most and 12 in the others, on a basis 
of making a total addition, in 20 cycles of 1040 years, 
of 252 days. This gave them, in 1040 years, a total of 
379,852 days, as against actual time of 379,851 days, 
1 hour, 5 minutes and 2 seconds. The calendar would, 
in other words, serve 23,000 years before an error of a 
full day would occur. In the Julian calendar, in use 



14 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKEOW 

at the time of the Spanish Conquest, there was an error 
of over 8 days in 1040 years, and the Gregorian calen- 
dar, now in general use, is a day in error every 3323 
years. While it may be of small interest to know that 
we cannot run nearly as long without losing a day, it is 
of the highest interest to know that this people had, at 
such an early date, made such close and accurate obser- 
vations. The Aztec calendar stone, unearthed in the 
main plaza of Mexico City in 1790, gives a marvelously 
ingenious combination of the days, months, years and 
cycles, and, erected in a vertical position, it acted as a 
sun dial. With indications of the equinoxes and sol- 
stices, it gave a complete and accurate statement of time, 
hour, day, month, year and cycle, — probably the most 
complete affair of its kind ever erected. 

The Mexican had an elective monarchy. During the 
reign of a monarch the nobility named four electors, who, 
on the death of the monarch, named his successor, and 
the latter was usually of the same family. Unless a 
son of the deceased monarch was of mature age, a 
brother or nephew was chosen. The monarch was su- 
preme in all matters, with one important exception. In 
each kingdom there was a supreme judge, named for life 
and independent of the king. Thus provision was made 
for dispensation of justice without any influence or 
pressure from the court. In each province there was a 
lower court, and below this were minor magistrates in 
every village or district. On the presentation of cases 
before the two upper courts, and perhaps before magis- 
trates, a record of the facts or claims was made in pic- 
ture vn"iting, this work being done by an officer of the 
court corresponding with our court stenographer. The 
care with which these records were made is attested by 
the fact that old records were accepted by the Spanish 
for several years after the conquest. 



AZTEC CIVILIZATION^ 15 

The laws, as with all primitive peoples, were severe. 
Murder was punished with death, and adulterers were 
stoned to death. Thieving was punishable with death 
or slavery, according to the gravity of the offense. 
Changing boundary lines or falsifying weights were 
capital offenses, as was breach of trust by a guardian. 
Intemperance was punished with death for young men, 
and with loss of property for old men. 

Public debtors were sold as slaves. Prisoners taken 
in war could be sold into slavery, and the very poor 
often sold themselves or their children. Slaves were 
well treated, and had certain rights. They could work 
for others when not needed by their owners, and thus 
could acquire property. They were even allowed to 
own slaves. Children of slaves were free. 

There was no currency, and trading was mostly by 
barter, supplemented by the use of quills filled with 
gold dust. As a medium of exchange bags of cacao 
beans, containing a fixed weight of beans, were used. 
Small pieces of tin, cut T shape, were also used in trad- 
ing, the value, as with the cacao beans, being intrinsic. 

While some of these features were of a primitive na- 
ture, others, especially those of the provisions for courts 
of justice, showed a high order of development. In 
general, the political organization was well laid out to 
fit the needs of the people, and there appears to have 
been a disposition to do justice to all classes of people. 

The religious beliefs of the Mexicans present curious 
contradictions. They believed in a " god omnipotent," 
" by whom we live," " giver of all gifts," " of perfec- 
tion," " under whose wings we find repose and sure 
defense " — in other words, in a supreme deity, creator 
and ruler. This conception was so great as to stagger 
the average primitive mind. Clearly, there must be one 
Supreme Being, omnipotent, without beginning and 



16 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

without end. But how could He, alone, rule the des- 
tinies of a world full of many peoples ? The creation, 
in the dim past, was not so staggering, but the multi- 
plex duties of a god in guiding the universe were mani- 
festly too great to be carried out without assistance. 
To meet this, the Mexicans developed the idea of a num- 
ber of inferior gods who were charged with specific 
duties. Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, had to do 
with all war matters. Quetzalcoatl, god of the air, was 
a benevolent deity who, in the dim past, had quarreled 
with the other gods and had been driven out, leaving the 
country in a boat and going East, promising to return. 
There were gods of the air, of the household, of the 
harvest, and so forth, with a total of thirteen major 
gods inferior to the Supreme Being. Again, there was 
a confused doubt if these gods could properly take care 
of a thousand and one things without outside help, so 
two hundred minor gods were conceived, and to them 
were given all the details in the management of every 
day life. While, ethically, the addition of many minor 
gods detracts from the perfection of the scheme, it is, 
nevertheless, of greatest interest to know that the Mexi- 
cans had, in the idea of a Supreme Being, the greatest 
of religious conceptions. Their belief in immortality 
was a natural consequence of a belief in a supreme being. 
They believed in various grades of future life. Soldiers 
who died in battle were most highly honored, as their 
spirits were supposed to immediately go to the Sun, and 
after a space of time spent in songs and dances in the 
Sun's travels in space, the souls animated song birds 
living in paradise. Evil spirits went into a place of 
eternal darkness. There was not, in their conception 
of paradise, anything of the material sensualism so 
characteristic with primitive peoples, and their idea of 
a place of punishment is unaccompanied by any sugges- 



AZTEC CIVILIZATI0:N" 17 

tion of torture. The whole tendency of their religious 
belief, especially in its early stages, was along poetic 
lines. The gods were propitiated with offerings of fruit 
and flowers. The sun, bringing warmth and light, was 
considered as the direct agent of an omnipotent power. 
It was the generating impulse of the world, and was 
therefore frequently represented as double to indicate 
two sexes. The rite of baptism was practiced, the 
lips and bosom being sprinkled with water. At death 
the body was covered with scraps of paper to protect the 
spirit on the dark road — a practice followed, in one 
form or another, by the Egyptians, Phoenicians and 
other early peoples, and having its counterpart in a part 
of the burial service in the Koman Catholic Church. 
Eemains were cremated and the ashes kept in vases in 
each household. Confession to priests was obligatory, 
and penances were imposed. Confession, however, was 
only made once in a lifetime, doubtless on the theory 
that atonement and subsequent sinning would be incom- 
patible. Consequently, confession was usually made 
late in life. Then a lifetime of sins could be confessed 
and atoned for. The priests, on confession, gave abso- 
lution. This absolution was of material as well as of 
spiritual value, as it carried with it immunity from 
arrest for various offenses. After the Conquest the na- 
tives, when arrested, frequently presented evidence of 
confession in expectation of immunity. As the act of 
confession was the most important one in life, the simple 
folk doubtless had a confused notion of the very futility 
of existence when it represented nothing in the new 
order of things. 

The priesthood was numerous and powerful. Five 
thousand priests, it is said, were attached to the main 
temple, and doubtless a goodly percentage of the entire 
population were in the priestly orders. Education, 



18 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

chiefly relative to churcli ritual, picture writing, astrol- 
ogy and astronomy, was in the hands of the priests. 
There was no attempt at any popular education, but 
any one desiring to enter the priesthood became a noviti- 
ate and was put through a long course of instruction 
before being given orders. The priestly orders in- 
cluded nuns, who, in addition to taking part in some 
of the ceremonies, did feather work and embroidery for 
coverings for the church altars. 

As has been pointed out, the earlier tendencies of 
religion were along very gentle lines, and the sacrifice 
of human life, developed later to such horrible propor- 
tions, seems inconsistent with the poetry of the scheme. 
It is certain that human sacrifice as a religious rite was 
unknown until about 1325. The practice was brought 
from the jSTorth, perhaps by the Chichimecs but more 
likely by the Aztecs, as its appearance coincides with 
their arrival at Lake Texcoco. Prescott and many other 
writers assume that this dreadful practice could only 
have been introduced by a ferocious people, and they 
make frequent reference, based on this hideous rite, to 
the ferocity of the Aztecs. It must be remembered, how- 
ever, that the offering of a sacrifice of blood to the gods, 
and frequently of human blood, has been common in all 
early civilization. Its adoption by the Aztecs may have 
been purely accidental, due to some dire necessity of 
flood or famine, when it was felt that nothing short of 
some extraordinary sacrifice would appease the wrath of 
the gods. It became a species of fanaticism, and many 
who wished to attain especial glory or atone for great 
sins offered themselves to the priests for the purpose. 
It was religion gone wrong. As the custom was devel- 
oped on an ever-ascending scale, war was waged on inno- 
cent neighboring tribes solely to obtain victims for sacri- 
fice. Trom all the evidence gathered by the Spanish 



AZTEC CIVILIZATIOIT 19 

conquerors it seems clear that a large part of the scheme 
of expansion developed by the Mexico Valley alliance 
was simply to secure victims for the great festivals. 

Such wholesale slaughter does not seem in keeping 
with the idea that the people were of a peaceful dispo- 
sition. The Aztec religion, however, was of a mys- 
terious sort, appealing, in many ways, to the imagi- 
nation. The great temple at Ixtacalco was on the top 
of a hill which commands a vast stretch of country lying 
two thousand feet below, and many other temples were 
placed amid surroundings which suggest the weird pic- 
tures of Dore. To such points the great throngs- came 
to worship, and here, in the vast spaces of nature, they 
listened to incantations and appeals to their gods. In 
the capital the temples were built on high mounds or 
pyramids, with paved roadways winding to their tops, 
where, in front of altars, sacred fires always burned. 
One can imagine the multitude watching an endless pro- 
cession of priests, in their weird robes, chanting their 
way up to the altar, where, in view of all below, the 
incantations ended in an offering to the gods. What 
more natural, therefore, that the idea of human sacrifice, 
once introduced, should take a strong and immediate 
hold? Horrible and bloodthirsty as it was, we have 
only to think of the horrors of the Inquisition, of mas- 
sacres and persecutions done in the name of Christ, to 
understand how religion could far depart from peaceful 
ideals. 

The Mexican Indian was doubtless affected by cli- 
matic conditions. The tribes encountered by early set- 
tlers in other parts of ISTorth America were savage or 
semi-savage, with no fixed abodes, living by the chase 
and rarely tilling the ground. The Mexican Indians, 
however, had, at a very early date, tilled the soil, and 
were accustomed to living in permanent homes, fre- 



20 "MEXICO TO-DAY Al^B TO-MORKOW 

quently with great nuinbers grouped together in large 
cities. Their religion, their life and their government 
all tended toward permanency, and they had reached a 
stage of civilization far beyond anything to be found 
further ]^orth. The movements of the various tribes 
and the rise and decline of one race after another, were 
not unlike the history of old Asiatic peoples. Whether 
or not they originally came from a different stock is 
uncertain, but in any event their civilization was doubt- 
less greatly aided by more moderate climate than that 
enjoyed by their neighbors farther ISTorth. As crops 
could be raised the year around, hunting, as a means of 
existence, became of secondary importance. The fact 
that each race had a war god, combined with the practice 
of human sacrifice, has led many historians to take for 
granted that sanguinary characteristics predominated. 
This does not appear to be warranted by the history of 
the people. The very fact that five or six tribes lived 
in close proximity to each other around the shores of 
Lake Texcoco is reasonably good proof that the general 
tendency was peaceful. The Toltecs, Chichimecs and 
Aztecs in turn obtained a preponderance in the Mexico 
Valley through the growth of their respective tribes, 
through the establishment of cities, through intermar- 
riage with adjoining tribes and through alliances. 
From time to time there were tribal wars, but these 
appear to have been incidental and due largely to the 
crowding together of many rival tribes in a compara- 
tively small area of fertile land, rather than to any 
natural tendency toward warfare. 

It is important to keep in mind the general character 
of the "civilization to understand the amazing events 
which transpired vvith the advent of the Spaniards. 
Scattered throughout Mexico were scores of tribes — 
philologists have traced thirty languages and one hun- 



AZTEC CIVILIZATIOIT 21 

dred and fifty dialects — and in the Mexico Valley, 
wtiose three dominating tribes were in an alliance, there 
were at least a dozen distinct tribes. The country was 
fairly populous, and the Valley country doubtless had 
one and a half million inhabitants. The dominating 
tribes, through their conquests and especially through 
their toll for human sacrifices, had embittered their 
neighbors. The early Spaniards referred always to the 
empire of the Montezumas. They perhaps did not fully 
understand the political conditions of the country, and 
were, moreover, inclined to exaggerate in general and 
in detail. There was not, in a political sense, an em- 
pire, but rather a large group of tribes of which three, 
through industry and agriculture, had become more 
powerful than the others, and which were, through alli- 
ance, able to impose tribute on their neighbors. The 
dominating tribes had armies, as had the others, but the 
so-called armies depended largely on great numbers 
rather than on any military organization or efficiency. 



CHAPTER III 
THE MONTEZUMAS 

Popular imagination pictures the Monteznmas as a 
long line of powerful emperors. As a matter of fact, 
however, the Aztec did not achieve a dominating influ- 
ence in the Valley until the early part of the Fifteenth 
Century. On the death of Itzcoatl, the king who had, 
as a final touch to their domination carried through the 
formation of an alliance with other powerful nations, the 
wise men and nobles elected, as his successor, Motecuh- 
zoma Ylhuicamina. The name, Motecuhzoma, corrupted 
by the Spaniards to Montezuma, means, in the Aztec 
tongue, " The man of fury and respectability," while 
Ylhuicamina means, " archer of heaven." This young 
man came from a noble family, had distinguished him- 
self in military operations and had headed the mission 
charged with negotiations for an alliance with the Tex- 
coco kingdom. On coming to the throne he deferred his 
coronation to conduct a campaign against the Chalco 
tribe, neighbors who had for years been hostile to the 
Aztecs. The campaign was a brilliant success, and 
Motecuhzoma returned to the capital with several thou- 
sand prisoners who were duly sacrificed, in the midst of 
great festivals, to celebrate the ceremony of coronation. 
Immediately following the coronation the Chalcos re- 
belled but they were again defeated and five hundred 
of them, taken prisoners, were sacrificed by being thrown 
into a sacred fire, from which they were dra^m out before 
life was extinct, that their hearts might be cut out and 

22 



THE MOE^TEZUMAS 23 

offered to tlie gods. The same tribe gave trouble at 
intervals during several years, but were finally subju- 
gated, their capital, Amecamecan, being destroyed. In 
1449 heavy rains caused a great flood, which so inun- 
dated the Aztecs' capital that for weeks tho only means 
of getting around was in boats. To guard against a 
recurrence of this disaster Motecuhzoma built a great 
dike, fifty to seventy-five feet wide and over six miles 
long, the work being pushed so actively that it was 
finished before the following rainy season. Heavy 
snows and frosts in 1450-1454 destroyed the crops and 
caused a serious famine which was only partially re- 
lieved by rations given to the people from the royal 
storehouses. To appease the gods more victims were 
needed for sacrifice, and campaigns were waged in the 
far south. In 1455 there were good crops, and this was 
attributed to the great number of prisoners sacrificed. 
Consequently to obtain still more captives the scope of 
military operations was greatly enlarged and campaigns 
conducted in remote regions South, East and West. By 
1460 the Aztec power covered the greater part of what 
now constitutes Mexico. In the meanwhile, Motecuh- 
zoma did much to embellish the city, building temples 
and public edifices and constructing an aqueduct to 
bring a supply of pure water from Chapultepec. Mote- 
cuhzoma Ylhuicamina died in 1469. His brother, Yla- 
caclel, declining the throne, the nobles elected as ruler 
Axaycatl, son of Motecuhzoma's daughter. The new 
ruler, following the practice of his gTandfather, post- 
poned his coronation until he had taken the city of 
Tecuantepec and conquered the southern gulf coast to 
obtain a large supply of victims for the coronation cere- 
monies. The reign of Tizoc Chalchuihlatonac, 1481- 
1486, was characterized by nothing of consequence. 
Ahuizotl, who followed, extended and rebuilt the temple 



24 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOREOW 

of Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, and celebrated its 
dedication with the most gigantic orgy of human sacri- 
fice the world had probably ever seen. For two years, 
while the construction work on the temple was being 
pushed, all prisoners, instead of being immediately sac- 
rificed, were saved, and a great throng of them, the 
spoils of campaigns in distant regions, was ready for the 
dedication ceremony. The chiefs of all subject tribes 
were all asked to the festival, at which they were 
royally treated. Before dawn, on the day of dedica- 
tion, a vast multitude, including thousands of guests 
from every part of the dominions, was gathered in 
front of the temple. With the first streaks of light on 
the horizon Ahuizotl gave the signal to begin the slaugh- 
ter, he himself cutting out the heart of the first victim 
and offering it, with much ceremony, to the high priests, 
who, in turn, placed it before the idol of the war god. 
There followed, then, a great procession of victims, 
marching and being sacrificed in fours, the horrible 
slaughter continuing until darkness set in. By night 
the royalty and priesthood were soaked in blood, but the 
number of prisoners was so great that the ceremony had 
to be prolonged for four days before the last of the line 
was reached. 

Ahuizotl died in 1502, and was succeeded by Mote- 
cuhzoma Xocoyotzin (Motecuhzoma II), a grandson of 
Motecuhzoma I. The new monarch was thirty-four 
years of age, had distinguished himself as a soldier and 
had later taken priestly orders. 

There is nothing in American history to compare, in 
point of picturesque features, with this period, in which 
the power of Mexico reached the zenith. Mexico City, 
located in a great valley surrounded by high mountains, 
is always beautiful, and the snow-capped volcanoes add 
the charm of variety to the scene. In the early days, 



THE M0:N'TEZUMAS 25 

however, there was an added charm in that the city was 
partly an island, partly a stretch of shore on Lake Tex- 
coco. This lake was probably ten or twelve miles 
across, but has now shrunk to a small shallow body of 
water with an area of only five or six square miles. 
Much of the land was " made " by digging canals, and 
in a large part of the city communication was by these 
waterways, which swarmed with all sorts and sizes of 
canoes and boats. Flowers, fruits and vegetables were 
raised in great quantities in the small squares of land 
reclaimed by a canal system of great extent, and this 
section became known as the " floating gardens " of 
Mexico, which the early Spaniards called the Venice of 
America. The city, which is said to have had some 
300,000 inhabitants, was well laid out, with wide streets 
and a great market place. In the market place the 
various classes of business were grouped, one section 
being given to grains, another to vegetables, another to 
pottery, another to gold and silver ornaments and pre- 
cious stones, and so on. On regular market days sixty 
thousand people came to market, while on other days 
there was an attendance of twenty-five thousand. The 
section of the market devoted to featherwork pictures, 
in the making of which the Mexicans had been expert 
for centuries, always attracted many of the well-to-do 
classes. The shops displayed a great variety of cloths, 
the fineness of which indicated the social grade of the 
wearer. Society was divided into various castes or 
grades, from the most humble to the nobility, and rigid 
rules were laid down to govern the clothes and conduct 
of each class. There were, in the city, three hundred 
temples or smaller places of worship, presided over by 
a great number of priests. The priestly class was 
usually robed in white when in the temple, but had dif- 
ferent costumes for various occasions — combinations of 



26 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKROW 

black figures on white, purple on white, or white on 
black, to suit each particular ceremony. The picture 
writings covering the temple walls gave an added touch 
of the picturesque to the solemn incantations and mys- 
tical dances which formed a great part of the ceremonial 
worship. 

The wealth of the tributary regions, from the temper- 
ate climate of the plateau to the tropical coast country, 
poured into the city. Taxes and tributes were paid in 
the products of each region, and grain, fruit, feathers, 
gold, silver, precious stones, fine woods, furs and a thou- 
sand other articles came in an endless chain. The main- 
tenance of the royal household, with its nobility and 
hundreds of retainers, called for vast quantities of the 
products of the country. One picturesque item in the 
list of royal household needs was 24,000 bundles of 
colored feathers, which doubtless was largely contrib- 
uted by the tropical sections of the country. An army 
of ten thousand had to be provisioned, and from the state 
income provision had to be made for the thousands of 
priests. The nobility, dressed in rich clothes and with 
ankles and arms covered with gold and silver bands, 
lived in a sort of barbaric splendor. 

Swift messengers, working in relays, brought fresh 
fish from the coast and game from the north for the 
royal table. Couriers kept the palace informed of 
everything happening in the most remote parts of the 
country. Justice was administered by tribal chiefs and 
sub-chiefs, and from all accounts the amount of crime 
was small. One of the most curious facts regarding the 
race is that, up to the time of the conquest, the people 
knew nothing of the use of iron, and all the stone carving, 
woodcarving and other such work was done with tools or 
implements made of stone or copper. That the people 
had considerable mechanical ability is shown by the 



THE MOKTEZUMAS 27 

construction of the great pyramid at Teotihuacan, as 
high, as a modern sky-scraper, and also by the fact that 
huge blocks of stone used in temple construction, some 
of them weighing many tons, were often moved great 
distances from quarries. 

The whole picture is vivid : a curious mixture of bar- 
baric splendor and civilization, of primitive peoples and 
urban life. Their civilization may be compared to that 
of the early Egyptians, but with the notable difference 
that a large class of nobility, following early tribal cus- 
toms, had a voice in the selection of their ruler. Here, 
on the Mexican plateau, separated by thousands of miles 
of sea from any other civilization, a people living in a 
stone and copper age emerged from purely tribal con- 
ditions, worked out a form of alphabet or expression 
through pictures, developed a government, carried on 
much internal commerce, built cities, and established a 
sort of an empire ; and did all this, or the greater part, 
two thousand years after a similar development had 
come and gone in Egypt. 

"What curious thoughts of evolution arise in one's 
mind ! The advance in thought and civilization in- 
creases its pace as each stage is passed. Who knows 
but that the development of the Mexican race began in 
the same place and at the same remote time as that of 
the Hindoos or Egyptians? Had it been retarded by 
a fight with nature in a hostile climate ? Centuries, 
perhaps ages, had passed in making the first steps from 
barbarism and savagery to that of the first stage of civi- 
lization; then four or five centuries of rapid progress, 
and a definite social and political scheme was developed ; 
and finally, conquest by people of another civilization, 
a conquest so swift and a subjugation so complete that 
every sign and vestige of the civilization already devel- 
oped was lost. It was not a case of a civilization influ- 



28 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

enced or accelerated by another race. The new civiliza- 
tion was not grafted on the old. The old was simply 
annihilated, so entirely blotted out that it might have 
never existed so far as its influence on the people was 
concerned. And the pity is that this happened just as 
the old civilization gave promise of rapid development. 
Prescott says, " In this state of things it was benefi- 
cently ordered by Providence that the land should be 
delivered over to another race, who would rescue it from 
the brutish superstitions that daily extended wider and 
wider with the growth of empire. It is true, the con- 
querors brought along with them the Inquisition, but 
they also brought with them Christianity, whose benign 
radiance would still survive when the fierce flames of 
fanaticism should be extinguished ; dispelling those dark 
forms of horror which had so long brooded over the fair 
regions of Anahuac." 

Prescott, at the time he wrote (about 1855), had a 
world wide reputation, but, aside from being a chrono- 
logical and highly interesting record of events, his work 
is of small value in determining the influence of the 
conquest on the Mexican people. His work is more or 
less a mechanical history, wonderfully told, but it shows 
his lack of knowledge of conditions. Doubtless influ- 
enced by the Spanish historians whose works he studied 
with such care, he fell into the error of assuming that 
the mere substitution of Christianity for a religion which 
sanctioned human sacrifice was sufficient recompense for 
the destruction of a nation and a civilization already 
well advanced. It may be argued that but for the spirit 
of adventure of the Spanish, the new world might not 
have been discovered for many years, and that world- 
progress would have been arrested by that much. The 
casual critic will ask what North America would have 
been if it had remained in the hands of the Indians. 



THE MOI^TEZUMAS 29 

But that is beside the point. One might equally ask, 
what would the country be if all of North America had 
remained in the hands of the Spaniards? Two-thirds 
of the JSTorth American continent was inhabited by sav- 
ages, and their disappearance, under the progress of an 
Anglo-Saxon civilization, can in no way be compared 
to the course of events in Mexico. In the latter case 
there were four or five million people, half of them 
under a common rule, who had already made a start in 
civilization. That that civilization was an inferior one 
in many respects is true, but, in a large measure, it an- 
swered their wants. It was at least better than nothing, 
and gave promise of amounting to something more. If, 
in the change, the people had had a chance to adopt the 
new civilization, become part of it and advance with it, 
there would be no cause for regret. But, for the people 
at large, the forms of the church were given in place of 
civilization. They became a subject race, a race of 
slaves who had no place in the general scheme of things. 
In place of advancing, they were reduced to slavery and, 
in that, retarded. Mexico, during three hundred years, 
was a country in which the Mexican had no voice, a 
colony so thoroughly Spanish that, but for occasional 
protests from Dominican priests as to the treatment of 
the natives, no one would have known that the Mexican 
existed. It was not that all the colonial rulers were 
cruel, only that the Mexican was considered an inferior 
being to be used as a beast of burden for the benefit of 
his superiors. 

Due allowance must be made for the Spanish view- 
point. The Spaniards of that day were adventurers and 
zealots. They came of a people having a different civ- 
ilization and a different religion, which, alone, were suf- 
ficient to place them beyond the range of consideration. 
The very fact that the people fell an easy victim to 



30 MEXICO TO-DAY AJSTD TO-MOKEOW 

Spanish arms was taken as a proof of inferiority. So 
far as the people were concerned, the Spanish considered 
that they had done their full duty in bringing them into 
the Churchy even if this was done at the point of the 
sword. The glorious conversion having been accom- 
plished, there was no further obligation. By right of 
conquest, strengthened by rights given by the Church, 
the cenquerors owned the country and everything in it, 
and the natives were clearly there to be useful to the 
Spanish crown and its representatives. This reasoning 
prevailed for centuries, and, among the people of pure 
Spanish blood in Mexico, prevails to-day. The Mexi- 
can Indian is regarded by such people as a hopeless 
proposition, incapable of any development and useless 
except as a mechanical unit. Centuries of life as a slave 
stunted his mental and moral growth. The Spanish 
conquest, wonderful as it was in opening up a new em- 
pire of fabulous wealth, did nothing for him. Its effect 
was to set him back a century or more and then keep him 
in that established place. It is worth emphasizing, in this 
connection, that, at the time of the conquest, Mexican 
civilization was, relatively speaking, a thousand years 
behind that of Spain or Eome. It must not, however, 
be taken for granted that the Mexican mind was corre- 
spondingly backward. The Mexicans, due to climatic 
conditions in the north, had remained in a savage state 
for many centuries, while people in more favored cli- 
mates, or, influenced by surroundings, had advanced. 
The Mexican mind was just forming, and was showing 
potential power, when its development was brought to a 
sudden halt by the overwhelming power of a new civiliz- 
ation. 

The astounding rapidity with which the blow fell 
forms one of the most remarkable records in the history 
of the world. 



CHAPTEK IV 
THE SPANISH CONQIJEST 

At the beginning of the sixteenth century Spain was 
just entering on the brilliant career which was soon to 
place her in a dominant position in Europe. The 
union of Castile and Aragon by the marriage of Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella in 1469 had soon been followed by a 
campaign against the Moors, whose last stronghold, 
Granada, fell in 1492. The Turkish occupation of the 
Levant had forced the seeking of new trade routes and 
markets, and the Spanish and Portuguese had taken the 
lead in maritime voyages of discovery. The discovery 
of America by Christopher Columbus, opening up 
visions of the riches of the East, had given the greatest 
possible stimulus to further adventures and voyages, 
even if it did not, at the moment, give much return in 
wealth and treasure. In the West Indies the Spanish 
had found a weak and effeminate lot of savages and 
little treasure, but they had established some colonies 
and were slowly preparing to develop the agricultural 
resources by using native labor. 

The age was one of adventure and chivalry. The 
Spanish campaigns in Europe had developed hundreds 
of ambitious and restless spirits who flocked to the 
standard of any one heading an expedition. The dis- 
covery of a new world, or, as was supposed, of a new 
route to an old world, carried with it so much glamour 
that the adventurous, of high or low degree, lost no time 
in putting his fortunes to test. In an incredibly short 

31 



32 MEXICO TO-DAY Al^D TO-MOEEOW 

time there were thousands of Spaniards scattered 
throughout the West India Islands. Each was given a 
tract of land, frequently a large estate, and, under a 
system called repartimientos, was allotted a certain num- 
ber of natives who became, for all effects, his slaves. 
The cultivation of the soil, although done by slaves, 
proved, however, tedious. There was no adventure, no 
excitement, no novelty in it. Consequently every one 
was constantly trying to find something new. By 1518 
the Atlantic coast, from Labrador south, had been exam- 
ined practically through the length of both North and 
South America. Cuba had been discovered and a settle- 
ment established there under Don Diego Velasquez, 
governor of the island. The Cubans had offered but 
weak resistance. One native chief, Hatuey, having fled 
from Hispaniola to escape the oppression of the Con- 
querors, put up a strong fight, for which, when cap- 
tured, he was burned alive. At the stake on his being 
urged to embrace Christianity so that his soul might go 
to heaven, he inquired if the souls of white men were 
there, and, on receiving an affirmative answer, said he 
had no desire to again go to any place where he would 
find Christians. With this single exception, the Span- 
iards had no difficulty with the natives, and there was 
little bloodshed accompanying the conquest, or occu- 
pation, of Cuba, this being due, in large part, to the 
efforts of Las Casas, a Spanish priest who accompanied 
the expedition. Almost as soon as a permanent settle- 
ment had been made in Cuba, various expeditions 
were fitted out to cruise in the gulf and learn some- 
thing of other islands. This expedition found little of 
interest, and the discovery which had the greatest im- 
portance was made accidentally. Hernandez de Cor- 
dova, an hidalgo of Cuba, sailed with three ships for the 
Bahamas in quest of slaves, but, meeting with heavy 



THE SPANISH COITQUEST 33 

gales, was driven far off his course, and landed on an 
unknown coast. Here he found houses built of stone, 
and people wearing well-woven cotton fabrics. All evi- 
dences pointed to a higher degree of civilization than 
any he had seen on the islands, and he determined to 
explore the country. The natives, however, were ex- 
tremely hostile, and Cordova was unable to penetrate the 
interior. He followed the coast for several days, mak- 
ing several landings and having numerous skirmishes 
with the natives. After losing nearly half of his hun- 
dred men, he determined to return to Cuba and fit out 
a larger expedition. Shortly after arriving in Cuba he 
died from wounds he had received in one of the fights. 
The story of his discovery spread all through the settle- 
ment and caused great excitement, especially as he had 
brought back with him many curiously wrought gold 
ornaments. Cordova had landed on the northeast cor- 
ner of Yucatan, and had examined the coast as far west 
as Campeche. This was the first landing of the Span- 
iards on the mainland of a country which was soon to 
become one of the nation's greatest possessions. 

Velasquez, the governor of Cuba, fitted out an expedi- 
tion which sailed on May 1, 1518, to follow up the dis- 
covery made by Cordova. This cruise, under command 
of Juan de Grijalva, made various landings, and at one 
point a friendly interview was had with a cacique who 
ruled over the district. As there was no one to inter- 
pret, such communication as there was had to be made 
by signs, but the Spaniards were able to understand that 
the cacique represented some one more powerful who 
lived in the west. Presents were exchanged, the Span- 
iards receiving, in return for some trinkets, beautiful 
gold ornaments and jewels. The expedition examined 
the coast as far west as the Isla de Sacrificios (Island of 
Sacrifices), near what is now the city of Vera Cruz. 



34 MEXICO TO-DAY AKD TO-MOEEOW 

Grijalva was the first white man to come in touch with 
the Aztecs. The rich treasure he sent back to Cuba 
determined Velasquez to fit out a large expedition to 
follow up the work already done bj founding a perma- 
nent colony. Hernando Cortes was selected to com- 
mand the expedition. 

The reader who wishes for excitement and romance 
should consult Prescott's " Conquest of Mexico." It is 
only possible here to briefly sketch the main story — a 
story full of religious zeal, military daring, personal 
courage and hardship rarely equaled. Cortes made a 
landing in Yucatan, battled successfully with the natives 
and then moved on to establish, on April 21, 1519, a 
permanent settlement at the site of the present city of 
Vera Cruz. Tales of a rich country beyond set his 
mind on penetrating to the interior, either by sheer force 
or by negotiations with the country's ruler. Monte- 
zuma had received, by couriers, reports of the Spanish 
victory in Yucatan, and was filled with dread at the 
tales of men who fought with thunder and lightning. 
He believed Cortes to be the god Quetzalcoatl, returning 
to his people, and had grave forebodings as to what the 
return meant. He determined to try to keep the new- 
comers on the coast, and opened friendly negotiations 
by sending representatives, bearing rich gifts of gold, to 
Cortes, who was welcomed to the country but advised to 
make no effort to visit the interior. The golden gifts 
only made Cortes more determined than ever to go 
through with his enterprise, and he doubtless formed, at 
this time, a definite idea of conquest. He did not want, 
moreover, to have the Governor of Cuba snatch the 
wealth and glory of the achievement, so, to give regular- 
ity to his proceedings, he had a duly constituted govern- 
ment installed in the name of the emperor, and this 
government then gave him supreme powers. Then, 



THE SPAmSH CONQUEST 35 

having sent one of his smaller ships to Spain to claim 
his rights of discovery, he took the major portion of his 
small band and started inland. The Cempoallans, a 
tribe placed nnder tribute by Montezuma, threw their 
lot in with the Spaniards, who prepared to march on 
the Aztec capital. On hearing murmurs of discontent 
among his men, Cortes scuttled his ships, making any 
retreat impossible — an act of daring, in the face of 
unknown dangers in a strange and hostile land, never 
equaled in history. The Spaniards then attacked the 
Tlascallans, an independent tribe on the edge of the 
Mexican plateau, and, although outnumbered twenty to 
one, their advantage of firearms and cavalry gave them 
victory, and the Tlascallans became their allies. The 
ChoUuUans, allies of Montezuma, were then defeated. 
Montezuma, hearing of these victories, made no further 
effort to stop the advance on his capital, which was en- 
tered by the Spaniards on November 8, 1519. Cortes 
was received by Montezuma as a friendly ambassador 
from a foreign potentate, and was given a vast amount 
of treasure. 

The Aztec capital was on an island, approached only 
by causeways, and the position of the Spanish force was 
one of great danger. Cortes determined on a bold move, 
and seized the person of Montezuma, who, while treated 
with deference due his rank, was held captive in the 
Spanish quarters. Cortes then heard that a Spanish 
force, sent by the governor of Cuba to overthrow him, 
was marching up from the coast. He accordingly left 
the capital in charge of one of his generals, Alvarado, 
and took two-thirds of his men with him to intercept the 
Spanish force, which he surprised and defeated. His 
army, reinforced by recruits from the defeated forces, 
returned to the capital only to find that Alvarado and 
his men were being besieged, following an uprising due 



36 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORKOW 

to Alvarado's excesses. The forces were united, but, 
seeing the hopelessness of the situation, after several 
days of fighting, Cortes decided on a sally. Under 
cover of night he fought his way to the mainland, and, 
although he lost half his army and all of his vast treas- 
ure, he managed to reach his base at Tlascala. After 
several months spent in preparation, which included the 
building of a fleet to operate against the capital, a fresh 
start was made. The Spaniards had the support of 
several thousand Tlascallan warriors, and laid siege to 
Mexico City on May 20, 1521. Montezuma had died 
in captivity, but Cuahtemoctzin, his successor, had pre- 
pared for a bitter resistance. After nearly three 
months of fighting, the Spaniards, aided by their fleet, 
gained a foothold in the city, and the Tlascallans let 
loose their fury on the Aztecs, a wholesale slaughter 
following for two days. Cuahtemoctzin was captured 
while attempting to escape to the mainland, and the 
city, the greatest stronghold of the Indian race in 
America, capitulated August 13, 1521. 

Less than thirty months had elapsed since Cortes, 
with his adventurous band, had set foot on Mexican 
soil. His fantastic dream of conquest was now realized, 
and the foundation laid for a vast Spanish dominion 
which was soon to extend from Oreg'on to the Straits 
of Magellan. 

" Whatever may be thought of the conquest in a moral 
view," says Prescott, " regarded as a military achieve- 
ment it must fill us with astonishment. That a hand- 
ful of adventurers, indifferently armed and equipped, 
should have landed on the shores of a powerful empire 
inhabited by a fierce and warlike race, and, in defiance 
of the reiterated prohibitions of its sovereign, should 
have forced their way into the interior ; — that they 
should have done this without knowledge of the language 



THE SPAmSH COI^QUEST 37 

or of the land, witlioiit chart or compass to guide them, 
without any idea of the difficulties they were to encoun- 
ter, totally uncertain whether the next step might bring 
them on a hostile nation or on a desert, feeling their 
way along in the dark, as it were ; — though nearly 
overwhelmed in their first encounter with the inhabit- 
ants, that they should have still pressed on to the capital 
of the empire, and, having reached it, thrown themselves 
unhesitatingly into the midst of their enemies ; — that, 
so far from being daunted by the extraordinary spec- 
tacle there exhibited of power and civilization, they 
should have been the more confirmed in their original 
design ; — that they should have seized the monarch, 
have executed his ministers before the eyes of his sub- 
jects, and, when driven forth with ruin from the gates, 
have gathered their scattered wreck together, and, after 
a system of operations pursued with consummate policy 
and daring, have succeeded in overturning the capital 
and establishing their sway over the country ; — that all 
this should have been effected by a mere handful of in- 
digent adventurers, is a fact little short of the miracu- 
lous, — too startling for the probabilities demanded by 
fiction, and without a parallel in the pages of history." 
Prescott somewhat overstates the matter. Mexico 
was not a powerful empire, and the Aztec rule, while 
covering a great area and dominating many peoples, 
was strong only in the sense that through superior armies 
it was able to impose tribute on conquered tribes. The 
extortions of the dominating people and the bloody sacri- 
fice of captives had spread so much discord that it only 
required some strong unit to bring together the various 
elements hostile to the government. Prescott, contra- 
dicting himself, states the case better when he says that 
" had the Aztec monarchy been united, it might have 
bid defiance to the invaders." Nevertheless, while con- 



38 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORKOW 

ditions were, in many respects, favorable for the Span- 
iards, Cortes' achievement will always stand out as one 
of the most daring exploits in history. It was all the 
more remarkable in that he could not call in aid from 
his own people, as the irregularity of his proceedings 
made him dependent on his own resources. This very 
fact doubtless formed the bases of his success. Failure 
meant disgrace, ruin and probable death. He could, 
therefore, afford to risk death where there was a chance 
of success, and he could take chances which another, 
clothed with proper authority, would scarce have taken. 



CHAPTER V 
SPAITISH MEXICO 

It would be tedious to enter into mncli detail of the 
Spanish rule in Mexico, but it is worth while to review 
briefly the history of the country after the Conquest. 
This period is especially interesting because of the fact 
that the Spanish civilization introduced far ante-dated 
any Anglo-Saxon colonization. Immediately following 
the conquest Cortes began the rebuilding of Mexico City 
on plans based on Spanish models. Busy as were the 
Spaniards with conquering and settling the country, 
they gave time to the artistic embellishment of their new 
capital, and the work done was so thoroughly harmonious 
and comprehensive that it has been possible, during four 
centuries, to follow the original plan of development, and 
to produce, as a result, a city which, in symmetry and 
beauty, has few rivals on the American continent. 
There was none of the haphazard settlement which char- 
acterized the growth of the early centers of population 
in English speaking America, or which, in spite of three 
hundred years of experience, still applies to many of 
our municipalities. Under the Spanish scheme the 
ovniership of a tract of land does not carry with it the 
right to open streets or to erect buildings according to 
the whims of the owner. Everything done must be in 
accordance with the general plan laid down by the mu- 
nicipality. To be sure, the average American city has 
regulations as to street openings, but these, as a rule, are 
so loosely drawn or so poorly enforced as to be negligible 

39 



40 MEXICO TO-DAY AI^D TO-MOKROW 

in the general results obtained. Thus, while a city may 
have a comprehensive scheme within its own limits, sub- 
urbs, which are under separate municipal control but 
which may soon become a part of the city, are not bound 
by any general scheme, but may lay out such streets as 
suit their immediate needs. The result is that, with the 
exception of Washington, none of the larger cities have 
been built up on any general plan, and, in spite of 
changes made at great expense, nearly all suffer from 
great irregularities. Under Spanish practice, the large 
center, usually the seat of state of provincial govern- 
ment, exercises strong influence over all adjoining terri- 
tory, and can lay out a street system, with parks and 
public squares, with the security that such a plan will 
be followed for an indeflnite time, and that, with the 
growth of the city, it will be, from time to time, farther 
extended. 

This general idea was followed in Mexico. A great 
public square, on which were erected the principal gov- 
ernment buildings and a huge cathedral, formed the 
center of the city, which was laid out with regular streets 
crossing each other at right angles. From the square 
three wide streets — somewhat narrow according to 
modern standards but very wide for the sixteenth cen- 
tury — run parallel in a westerly direction for half a 
mile or more. Then comes the alameda, a rectangular 
public park occupying a space equal to about six city 
squares. The streets then extend on beyond this park, 
and at intervals there are circular or rectangular park- 
ways. The general arrangement, made four centuries 
ago, made better provision for breathing spaces than 
prevails in the average American city built during the 
last seventy-five years. 

The one error made was in the selection of the site, 
the new city being laid out on the site of the old. Cortes 



SPAmSH MEXICO 41 

doubtless decided on this location because of its great 
advantages for defense, protected, as it was, by water 
on all sides, and being reached only by causeways. The 
ground, however, was marshy, and the greater part of 
the land had been reclaimed. The site, therefore, was 
a poor one so far as furnishing a good foundation for 
buildings was concerned, and many of the early Spanish 
edifices are out of plumb, two or three of them so badly 
that it seems scarcely possible they can stand at all. 
One of the leading churches in the Calle Francisco 
Madero looks as if it would topple over at any moment, 
and its belfry suggests the tower of Pisa. 

Another great disadvantage of the site, especially 
when viewed in the light of modern hygiene, was the 
difficulty of draining it. The city proper, at the time 
of the conquest, was several feet below the level of some 
of the surrounding lakes, including Lake Texcoco, and 
inundations were only partially prevented by the great 
dike built by the first Montezuma. It was, conse- 
quently, a serious problem to keep the city dry in the 
rainy season, to say nothing of the fact that the accumu- 
lation of filth and surface drainage was a constant 
breeder of disease. For three centuries the Spaniards 
struggled with this question, building more dikes and 
extending great ditches to remote points in an effort to 
keep the city dry and properly drained. In the latter 
part of the last century a tunnel was driven, at great cost, 
through the range of hills which surround the valley, and 
a great canal, in places seventy-five feet deep, was dug 
from the city to this tunnel to take care of drainage and 
to carry off the surplus waters in the rainy season. Even 
with this undertaking completed, at times great pumps 
have to be operated to keep the lowest section of the city 
dry, so it is easy to imagine the constant difficulty the 
early Spaniards had to face. Alberto J. Pani, in his in- 



42 MEXICO TO-DAY A:N"D TO-MOKEOW 

teresting work on " Hygiene in Mexico," says that be- 
yond question the selection of a poor site for the city has 
been responsible, to a considerable degree, for the poor 
physical development and lack of powers of resistance of 
the poorer inhabitants of the city. Lack of proper sani- 
tation has furnished the groundwork for epidemics and 
constant disease, and ill-health, extending through gen- 
erations, has had a decided effect on the physical con- 
stitution of the people. 

The choice of this island site had, in an unlooked for 
way, an important compensation for its disadvantages. 
This portion of Mexico, or, more properly, the portion 
somewhat west of the city, is in a zone in which the 
greatest faults have occurred in the earth's surface, and 
is subject to severe earthquakes. The city, located on 
what was an island marsh, is really built on a big and 
probably only partially dried puddle, and the character 
of the formation is undoubtedly a protection against the 
violence of the shocks. Once in a while the resident of 
Mexico has the unpleasant experience of waking up to 
find the furniture moving about the room, and, on rush- 
ing to the window, to see the street lamps swaying back 
and forth as if swung by a powerful gale. On reaching 
the street the dim light of the dawn shows the asphalt 
heaving in long waves, while, with each wave, houses 
seem to swing out over the sidewalks. The sensation 
when Mother Earth herself gets in motion is uncanny, 
and such earthquakes as are experienced in Mexico City 
would be far more terrifying and destructive but for 
the measure of protection afforded by the character of 
the soil. Even the great cathedral, the largest edifice 
of its kind in Latin America, begun in 1573 and com- 
pleted a century later, has suffered only cracks from the 
numerous shocks it has had in three centuries of exist- 
ence. 



SPAN^ISH MEXICO 4a 

Once establislied in their new capital, the Spaniards 
took advantage of the situation to dominate all the sur- 
rounding country. From remote tribes came offers of 
submission, and Cortes followed these up by sending 
military expeditions to take possession of the territory 
in the name of the Spanish crown. Expeditions were 
sent to explore the country westward as far as the Pa- 
cific and as far north as the upper end of the Gulf of 
California. People from Spain, attracted by the ro- 
mantic stories of the conquest, soon began to pour into 
the new country, and settlements were made at various 
points; along the Pacific and Gulf coasts and as far 
south as Honduras and Guatemala. By the end of the 
sixteenth century the whole of the country had been 
explored, and a start had been made on explorations 
which were soon to place the whole west coast country, 
as far north as Oregon, under the royal banner. Hand- 
some public buildings, in use to this day, were erected 
in the capital. Many people of distinguished families 
in Spain came over, obtained large grants of land and 
built themselves palatial residences in the capital, which, 
half a century before the landing of the Pilgrims at 
Plymouth, could boast of much of the brilliance of Euro- 
pean capital life. In 1536 Antonio de Mendoza, Count 
of Tendilla, was named Viceroy for the new country, 
and his work as a colonizer and organizer formed the 
basis of a permanent government. A public mint was 
established in 1636, and the new Viceroy in the year 
following founded the College of Santa Cruz de Tlate- 
lolco, the first institution of learning in the new world. 
The University of Mexico was founded in 1573, ante- 
dating Harvard by sixty-three years. Not only was 
the whole of the country explored before the end of the 
sixteenth century, but practically all of it was thor- 
oughly organized under Spanish rule. The Indians, 



44 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

awed into submission by the conquest, offered little or no 
resistance to the settlement of their country. There 
were, from time to time, local insurrections, generally 
resulting from the harsh treatment of labor at the mines, 
but these were always quickly suppressed, and none of 
them ever assumed the proportions of a national upris- 
ing. In this and in the two following centuries various 
decrees and royal acts prohibited the enslaving of In- 
dians, and some viceroys attempted to enforce the regu- 
lations, but local practice was too well founded and local 
avarice too great to permit compliance. The general 
practice was that a grant of land carried with it all the 
people already settled in it, and these people, while not 
technically slaves, could be obliged to work the estate 
for the owner's benefit. 

The rapid spread of Spanish colonization and rule 
was doubtless in large part due to the desire to find gold 
and silver. What extremes of cruelty were used to com- 
pel the natives to produce or find these precious metals 
may be imagined from the fact that, with a few excep- 
tions, every ]\Iexican mining camp of any conse- 
quence to-day appears in a list of mines published in 
1810. To be sure, some new properties have been 
opened in old camps, and some properties formerly of 
little value, have, under modern methods, become large 
producers. Speaking generally, however, the Spaniards 
made such a thorough search of the country that they 
located the great silver and gold camps within a few 
years after the conquest, and followed this up by locat- 
ing nine-tenths or more of the properties known to-day. 
In 155Y Don Bartolome de Medina, in Pachuca, in- 
vented a method for the extraction of silver from ore by 
the use of mercury, and this gave a great stimulus to the 
mining industry. It is interesting to note that the 
Pachuca camp is, to-day, one of the greatest silver pro- 



SPANISH MEXICO 45 

ducing districts in the world, and its annual production, 
due to the use of the cyanide process and the utilization 
of hydro-electric power from JN ecaxa, is equal to the pro- 
duction of a decade during Spanish days. 

The importance of the mining industry may be 
judged by the fact that during the Spanish colonial 
period the recorded production of silver was over two 
billions of pesos, the peso having a value, at that time, 
of about one dollar in American money. There were 
produced, in the same time, sixty-eight million pesos of 
gold. As these figures are from records turned in for 
purposes of taxation, it is probable that the actual pro- 
duction was considerably in excess of the amount re- 
ported. The figures must be considered relatively. 
Taking into consideration the total stock of silver in 
the world and its relative purchasing power, the peso, 
according to various estimates, had a relative value of 
from six to ten dollars. As judged by to-day's stand- 
ards, therefore, the average annual production of pre- 
cious metals in Mexico during the colonial period was 
worth an amount equivalent to fifty or seventy-five mil- 
lion dollars, and, due to the richness of the ores first 
treated, doubtless represented a greater amount during 
the first century. Statistics are misleading, and, by way 
of comparison, a better idea of the value of the stream 
of silver and gold which now began to pour into Spain 
can be gained by the simple statement that the amount of 
precious metals produced by Mexico annually was double 
the total amount of royal treasure possessed by any 
monarch in Europe. Spanish America, from Oregon to 
the Straits of Magellan, produced, during three centuries 
of colonial rule, four and a half billion pesos in silver, 
Mexico contributing nearly forty per cent, of the total. 
In the light of the tremendous production under modern 
scientific mining methods the annual production in 



46 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEKOW 

Mexico in Spanish days might seem small, but, con- 
sidering that the methods of the day were very crude, 
the output was quite remarkable. Only rich ore could 
be treated, and the whole process was one of hand labor. 
As late as twenty-five years ago, with the steam engine 
to supply power, the cost of silver production at the 
Pachuca camp was over twelve dollars per ton of ore, 
and ore with a value of less than fifteen dollars per ton 
was of too low a grade to treat. There is little data on 
costs in the Spanish days, but it is certain that only 
ores from the richest veins could be utilized. To-day 
the production cost at the Pachuca camp is three dollars 
per ton, a fourth of what it was only a few years ago. 
Obviously any comparison with former production is 
out of the question. 

The treatment of the Indians in mining operations 
brought forth protests, from time to time, from the 
early Dominican and Franciscan monks. With four- 
teen and fifteen hours constituting a day's work, with no 
provisions for health, and with much cruelty in the 
handling of the work, the labor conditions were as bad 
as they could be. Las Casas, the priest-historian, writ- 
ing of Cortes' first fortune, accumulated in Cuba, says, 
pathetically, " God, who alone knows at what cost of 
Indian lives it was obtained, will take account of it." 
It was not that Cortes was by nature cruel, for his 
recommendations to the government contain many hu- 
mane ideas. The whole system was based on forced 
labor, and was designed to drive the labor to the utmost 
point of endurance. One of Cortes' early acts after the 
conquest was to ask the crown to send out a number of 
priests so that the conversion of the natives might be 
actively pushed. A large number of monks were sent 
out, and they, scattering over the country, everywhere 
made bitter denunciation of the inhuman treatment of 



SPAJSTISH MEXICO 47 

the natives. The protests of these pioneer missionaries, 
coupled with the heroic efforts of Las Casas, mitigated, 
in some degree, the sufferings of the Indians, and re- 
sulted, at different periods, in the adoption of humane 
regulations covering the conditions of labor. It was, 
however, much easier to get proper regulations adopted 
than to have them enforced in the colony. The land 
owners and mine owners had large selfish interests at 
stake, and many of them were very powerful. They 
were far removed from contact with the home govern- 
ment, and naturally exercised much influence over the 
colonial officials. Many of the viceroys sent out were 
intent on enriching themselves, and, instead of attempt- 
ing to stop abuses, were only too glad to take advantage 
of them for their own purposes. Moreover, most of the 
great estates or mines were not managed by their owners 
directly but intrusted to administradores, or managers, 
who were usually men of a lower degree of education 
and who had little thought of anything but " getting 
results," regardless of the means employed. The owners 
themselves, living in comfort in the capital, were fre- 
quently entirely out of touch with the detail of the work 
on their properties, and, in general, indifferent as to 
the native labor so long as their income came in regu- 
larly. They were not necessarily heartless, but they 
simply regarded the Indian as an inferior being who was 
useful as a mechanical unit. The Indians, stunned by 
the sweeping success of the Spaniards in the conquest, 
submitted to slavery with little or no resistance, and re- 
mained under the yoke for three hundred years. 

The propaganda for the conversion of the Indians was 
highly successful, and in an incredibly short time the 
whole country accepted Christianity. The early mis- 
sionaries were not only zealous. They were self-sacri- 
ficing, and many of them men of fine feelings. Their 



48 MEXICO TO-DAY ANT> TO-MOEEOW 

constant effort to kelp improve tlie condition of tlie na- 
tives doubtless greatly aided tlieir propaganda. In tlie 
latter part of the sixteenth century the missionaries 
translated various religious works into the leading na- 
tive dialects, and opened schools at many missions to 
help in spreading Christian doctrines. 

The history of Mexico during the Spanish rule is 
strikingly and exclusively the history of the Spaniards 
in Mexico. With the exception of some efforts by the 
missionaries to help the natives, or at least to reduce the 
severity of their conditions of labor, little was done for 
the Indians. The natives of the country had no partici- 
pation in its life except as units of labor. It was, per- 
haps, natural that the Indian should have little part in 
the general scheme of life, but, allowing for all racial 
differences, it is really amazing that a few hundred 
Spaniards, having conquered a country with five mil- 
lions of people in it, should, with a few thousands who 
came over later, so thoroughly and absolutely dominate 
it that the Indian, except as a means to an end, disap- 
peared in the country's history. The very absence in 
the Spanish records of Indian names, except those of 
towns, is an indication of how completely the submer- 
gence was. The government was one of, by and for the 
Spaniards. It must be said, however, in justice to the 
invaders, that they respected, in many cases, the tribal 
rights to community lands. The Mexican tribes had 
no private ownership of land, but each tribe or conunu- 
nity had an allotment of land which was owned in com- 
m.on, and worked in common or in rotation by the indi- 
vidual members of the tribe. The Spanish, in many of 
their grants, specifically exempted such community 
lands, and a good many Mexican villages to this day 
own common land which has been so held from the days 
of the Aztecs. 



SPANISH MEXICO 49 

An interesting event during the Spanish rule was the 
sending from Mexico of an expedition, in 1611, to 
Japan, with the object of charting the coast with a 
view toward establishing trade. The expedition was 
well received in Japan, but, on learning that the Span- 
ish wished to chart the coasts, the Japanese became 
appiohensive lest the ultimate object might be to pre- 
pare for a conquest, and the commissioners were ordered 
to leave. The expedition came to nothing, and the at- 
tempt is of interest only as the first effort of people of 
European blood to get in touch with the affairs of the 
Japanese empire. 



CHAPTER VI 
INDEPENDENCE 

Spain, in the Seventeenth. Century, rose to tlie height 
of her power and glory. The crowns of Castile and 
Aragon, united by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella, fell by inheritance to Charles the Fifth, who, as 
Emperor of the Holy German Empire and Archduke of 
Austria, ruled over a vast empire. Spanish armies had 
swept over France and Italy. The Spanish Americas, 
extending over the greater part of the length of two 
continents, were pouring into the mother country a 
steady stream of treasure. The Philippines formed the 
commercial base for a great Oriental trade. Under 
Philip the Second, Charles' successor, this great empire 
was consolidated, and became, far more than it had been 
under Charles, a Spanish empire, with Madrid as its 
capital. The Spanish flag floated in every sea. Spain, 
in a hundred years, had leaped from an insignificant 
position to that of the great world power. But the em- 
pire was to fall faster than it had risen. In 1588 an 
event, the consequences of which were not then realized, 
changed world history. Through the defeat by the Eng- 
lish of Philip's " Invincible Armada " Spain lost con- 
trol of the sefe, and from then on her position became a 
secondary one. She kept her colonies and retained part 
of her commerce, but her domination in world affairs 
was gone. The Spanish rulers, occupied with troubles 
at home, paid little attention to the colonies, whose af- 
fairs were intrusted to the Council of the Indies. The 

50 



I^DEPENDEI^CE 51 

stream of wealth pouring in from Mexico and Peru 
helped to enervate the whole government. The wealth, 
of an artificial character, led to neglect of internal devel- 
opment, and the general tendency was to govern the 
colonial possessions on the basis of squeezing out of 
them the last peso of revenue. There was little of a 
constructive character, and much, in fact, to discourage 
real progress. 

From time to time there were ministers who realized 
the danger of a form of government which gave little 
and exacted much. In 1783 the Conde de Aranda, in a 
private memorandum to the King, deplored the aid 
given by the Spanish to the British American colonies 
in their fight for independence. He pointed out that 
while England was Spain's enemy, the example of the 
northern colonies might easily be followed by the Span- 
ish colonies. His memorandum continues : " The lib- 
erty of religion, the ease of settling people and vast tracts 
of land, and the advantages which the new form of gov- 
ernment offers, will attract the artisans and laborers of 
all nations . . . and within a few years we shall see, 
with the greatest regret, a colossus as our neighbor. 
Once this Anglo-American power is enlarged and estab- 
lished, we cannot but believe that its first vision will be 
that of the possession of the Floridas in order to domi- 
nate in the Mexican sphere. Once this is accomplished, 
it will not only be in a position to interrupt our com- 
merce with Mexico whenever it wishes, but it will aspire 
to the conquest of that vast empire, — which we, from 
Europe, could not defend against a power grand, for- 
midable and established on the same continent. . . . 
These are not vain fears, but truthful prognostications 
of what must inevitably happen. . . . How is it possible 
that the American colonies, when they are in a position 
to conquer Mexico, will refrain themselves and leave us 



52 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORKOW 

in peaceful possession of that rich country ? It is not 
believable, and, therefore, sound policy dictates that we 
should, in time, take measure to prevent evils which may 
overwhelm us." The Conde recommends that three new 
kingdoms be formed, one of Mexico, one of Peru, and 
the third of the remaining Spanish possessions, the ruler 
of each to be named by the Spanish crown, but each 
kingdom to be given entire freedom to legislate for 
itself. Under the stimulus of home rule each kingdom 
would so develop as to be strong enough to protect itself 
from attack, while Spain would derive benefit in con- 
tinuing a healthy commerce with the new countries. 

Had the counsel given in this remarkable document 
been followed, the catastrophe which lost Spain all her 
American possessions might have been averted. ISFeither 
to this nor to other occasional pieces of sound advice 
given was any attention paid. The whole tendency of 
the Spanish policy was to alienate the sympathy of the 
colonies. The vision of Aranda came true, and, once 
the American colonies were firmly established, the Span- 
ish colonies, one by one, began to fight for independence. 
In this effort they were greatly aided by internal condi- 
tions in Spain. Napoleon had overrun the country, and 
the King, kept on the throne by him, had alienated the 
people. Many loyal Spaniards in Mexico and other 
colonies felt that their mother country, dominated by 
foreigners, could no longer claim their allegiance. 

At the beginning of the ISTineteenth Century Mexico 
was by far the most important of the Spanish colonial 
possessions. The country had over five millions of 
people, and the capital, with 135,000 inhabitants, was 
the most important city of the new world. The govern- 
ment revenues were twenty million pesos a year, the 
foreign commerce amounted to thirty-two million pesos, 
and mineral production exceeded twenty million pesos. 



INDEPENDENCE 53 

The well-to-do class, including many loyal Spaniards, 
was galled by the stream of revenues going out of the 
country for the support of a government dominated by 
Napoleon. The Spanish residents of Mexico were, 
moreover, greatly irritated by the fact that they had 
little or no participation in government affairs, which, 
from the most important matters down to petty details, 
were handled by people who were new to the country and 
not in sympathy with its ideas. Of the sixty-four vice- 
roys who had represented the Crown only one had been 
born in Mexico, and the same general condition pre- 
vailed as to minor posts. In the church, conditions 
were no better for the native born element. The post 
of archbishop had, with one exception, never been given 
to any one born in the country, and the bishops of 
Mexico, Guadalajara and Michoacan were almost invari- 
ably of foreign birth. The industries of the country had 
largely been farmed out, under monopolistic conces- 
sions, to court favorites who, having no natural sympa- 
thy for the country, had no hesitation about exploiting 
it for their own benefit. 

All internal conditions were favorable for a change. 
In Spain the people were in open rebellion and fighting 
heroically to throw out the Erench usurpers of their 
government. Moreover, the prosperous development of 
the United States under its new government furnished 
a striking contrast to the devastated condition of Europe, 
then struggling in the throes of the Napoleonic wars. 
Everything tended to encourage a break between Mexico 
and the mother country. A movement toward independ- 
ence, started in 1808 in Queretero, was carried along 
secretly for two years, enlisting, during this time, the 
sympathy and support of Miguel Hidalgo, a native born 
priest who soon assumed the leadership of the cause. 
On the sixteenth of September, 1810, Hidalgo, then 



54 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

parish priest of Dolores, learning that the conspiracy 
had been betrayed to the government, anticipated any 
action by seizing the local authorities and government 
funds, making, at the time, a public speech which pro- 
claimed the object of the movement to be that of taking 
the government out of the hands of Europeans, who, he 
said, had already delivered their own country to the 
French and who would follow up their treason by soon 
handing Mexico over to the invaders. The revolution 
made headway rapidly, gathering in force of numbers 
day by day. The towns of Celayo and Queretero fell, 
making little or no resistance, and on the twenty-eighth 
of September Guanajuato, after a heroic defense by the 
Governor and the small force he had with him, came into 
the possession of the revolutionists. The revolutionary 
force, while large in numbers, was hardly more than a 
mob. There was nothing like military organization or 
discipline, and the fall of each town was accompanied 
by great excesses. The homes of Spanish residents were 
plundered of everything of value, and shops were sacked 
by the troops and populace. Word of the insurrection 
reached Mexico City quickly, and preparations were 
made for the defense of the capital and for the gathering 
of sufficient forces to put down the uprising. The in- 
surgent army slowly improved in organization, took 
town after town, and finally, on October thirtieth, de- 
feated the royalist forces within twenty miles of the 
capital. Hidalgo was unable, for lack of arms and pow- 
der, to follow up this victory by taking the capital itself, 
and decided to return to Queretero. The march north 
was abruptly interrupted on the seventh day of Novem- 
ber by an encounter with royalist forces going to the 
aid of the capital. The revolutionary forces, unpre- 
pared for an attack and lacking arms and ammunition, 
were disastrously defeated, and Hidalgo and other lead- 



INDEPEI^DEIS^CE 55 

ers barely managed to reach Queretero. The movement, 
however, spread throughout the country, and Hidalgo 
was able to gather a sufficient force to take Guadalajara, 
where the first steps were taken to form a regular gov- 
ernment. The record of the early days of the revolu- 
tion is blackened by the excesses committed in various 
towns. The revolt, however, resulted in a decree being 
issued by the Viceroy prohibiting slavery and abolishing 
head taxes. The first act of the newly formed govern- 
ment was to issue a similar decree. The weak position 
of the insurgents at Guanajuato was betrayed to Calleja, 
the royalist general, who proceeded to attack the city. 
The revolutionary forces, unable to withstand the attack 
of a well equipped force, evacuated the city. Before 
leaving they entered the jail and killed one hundred and 
thirty-eight out of two hundred and forty-nine Span- 
iards who had been arrested and placed in confinement. 
Calleja retaliated by killing every one encountered on 
the streets when the town was occupied, some four hun- 
dred people, most of them in no way connected with the 
revolt, giving up their lives in this act of bloody ven- 
geance. Allende and others of the insurgents now 
joined Hidalgo at Guadalajara, where the butchery of 
innocent Spaniards was repeated, two hundred being 
killed. Hidalgo determined to attack the royalist forces, 
counting on the large number of his men for victory. 
He had a total of thirty thousand men to draw on, and 
from these he formed seven battalions of infantry, six 
squadrons of cavalry and two batteries of artillery, the 
force totaling three thousand four hundred men. There 
were, however, only twelve hundred muskets, and of 
these many were useless. The army marched out of 
Guadalajara and arrived at Calderon, thirty-five miles 
distant, on January fourteenth, 1811. Calleja, with 
seven thousand men, attacked the force on the seven- 



56 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

teenth, and completely routed it, Hidalgo, Allende and 
others leaders managing, however, to escape. The roy- 
alist forces now reoccupied Guadalajara, and later took 
all the towns which Hidalgo had held. Hidalgo, Al- 
lende and thirty other leaders were later betrayed to the 
royalists, and all were executed in July, 1811. The 
heads of Hidalgo, Allende and Aldama were set on 
spikes on the jail in Guanajuato and remained there, a 
grewsome warning, for ten years. 

Early in the revolutionary movement the church had 
excommunicated Hidalgo and other leaders, and had 
threatened with excommunication any who gave mate- 
rial or moral support to the cause. Neither this nor the 
execution of the leaders was effective, however, in sup- 
pressing revolutionary ideas, and armed opposition to 
the government developed rapidly in various parts of the 
country. Jose Maria Morelos became, soon after the 
death of Hidalgo, the leader of the revolution, and for 
four years conducted military operations which were 
successful only in harassing the government. He was 
finally defeated, captured, and shot. 

During all this time a form of revolutionary govern- 
ment was maintained, but the government, such as it 
was, had to shift frequently and rapidly in the series of 
successes and defeats which its army met. Neverthe- 
less, the movement was gradually becoming an organized 
one, gaining strength in numbers and leaders from 
month to month, and was, in fact, so formidable that by 
1820, the government was obliged to maintain an army 
of 85,000 men in the field. Augustin de Iturbide, an 
officer in the royalist army, in 1821 conceived the idea 
of a compromise by establishing an independent consti- 
tutional monarchy in Mexico, with Fernando VII of 
Spain as King. The plan, so-called that of Iguala, 
received the approval of the new viceroy with the under- 



INDEPEISTDENCE 67 

standing that should Eernando VII be unable to accept 
the throne one of his sons should be chosen in his place. 
This plan was carried out, and on the twenty-seventh of 
September, 1821, Iturbide entered the capital in the 
role of liberator of the country. A provisional govern- 
ment was named, with Juan O'Donoju as provisional 
viceroy. Iturbide had doubtless counted on the disap- 
proval of the plan by the Spanish government, and cal- 
culated that, once in power, he would be in a position to 
deal with the situation. The Spanish government 
repudiated the arrangement, and Iturbide's followers 
promptly set up a cry demanding that he be proclaimed 
emperor. On May eighteenth a Congress was called, 
and Iturbide was elected emperor, and his coronation 
followed on July twentieth. Congress, which was Itur- 
bide's tool, voted him a salary of one and one-half mil- 
lion pesos, an amount which, however, for lack of funds, 
was never paid. Shortly after this, Iturbide dissolved 
Congress, and proceeded to run affairs under a dictator- 
ship. The government extravagance, coupled with its 
methods, provoked a new revolution led by Antonio 
Lopez de Santa Anna, which received the support of the 
army. As a result Iturbide was obliged to abdicate, 
and left Mexico on April 11, 1823. Although com- 
pelled to leave the country, Iturbide, in recognition of 
his services in securing the independence of Mexico, 
received an annual pension of 25,000 pesos. 

The Mexican Republic was then proclaimed, and was 
organized in October, 1824, as a constitutional repre- 
sentative republic with eighteen states and four terri- 
tories, and D. Guadalupe Victoria was elected presi- 
dent. The fortress of Ulua, near Vera Cruz, the last 
Spanish stronghold in Mexico, capitulated on November 
18, 1825. Manuel Gomez Pedraza succeeded Victoria, 
but held office only a few weeks, being forced out by 



58 MEXICO TO-DAY AM) TO-MOEEOW 

Vicente Guerrero, who had the support of Santa Anna 
and other military leaders. In 1829, an army of four 
thousand men, sent out from Spain in an attempt to re- 
conquer the country, seized Tampico, but, attacked by 
Santa Anna and General Teran, was obliged to capitu- 
late, surrender its arms and sail for Spain after its 
leaders had given a promise that no further effort would 
be made by Spain to interfere in the affairs of the new 
republic. Internal troubles, however, were more calcu- 
lated to bring disaster than attacks from without. Gen- 
eral Anastasio Bustamente overthrew Guerrero's rule 
and succeeded in dominating most of the country. 
Guerrero withdrew to the south and organized a formid- 
able army. The captain of a Sardinian ship purchased 
by Guerrero was bribed by Bustamente to betray the 
ex-president, who was invited to lunch on board in Aca- 
pulco harbor and seized when luncheon was over. The 
unfortunate Guerrero was taken in Oaxaca, tried by an 
irregular court martial and executed. This act pro- 
duced a reaction of feeling, and Santa Anna led a move- 
ment to overthrow Bustamente, who was obliged, in 
December, 1832, to sign a convention recognizing as 
President, Gomez Pedraza, under the election of 1828. 
Pedrazo served an unexpired term of three months, 
when Santa Anna was elected as his successor. 

The early years of the Mexican Eepublic were char- 
acterized by a long series of factional and personal 
quarrels in which the control of the public treasury 
seems to have figured as the main prize. Each govern- 
ment left the treasury bankrupt, and, in fact, the early 
fall of a government was usually foreshadowed by heavy 
treasury deficits. Why the treasury should have figured 
as a prize would, therefore, be inexplicable but for the 
fact that each government, on coming into power, 
promptly repudiated all the obligations of its prede- 



INDEPE:t^DElTCE 59 

cesser, and was thus enabled to start off with a clean 
sheet. Every new government introduced something 
new in the way of taxes, spent lavishly while the pro- 
ceeds lasted, and then collapsed or was overthrown. IsTo 
one had any*confidence in whatever government or party 
happened to be in power. In 1836, when Texas de- 
clared its independence and funds had to be raised to 
equip an army to suppress the revolt, the government 
raised, on loans, 2,200,000 pesos, paying 40 per cent, 
interest for half a million and 4 per cent, per month for 
the balance ! 

The Texas campaign was a complete disaster. Santa 
Anna, had he been an able military leader, might have, 
with his six thousand men, put a quick end to the young 
republic. He committed, however, great excesses, burn- 
ing towns and villages, shooting prisoners, and permit- 
ting his soldiers to loot, all this " frightfulness " only 
arousing the most determined spirit of resistance. 
Moreover, he had no plan of campaign, and permitted 
his own forces to separate into two or three units, the 
better, probably, to carry out the general idea of laying 
the country waste. On April 21, 1836, he, with thir- 
teen hundred men, was surprised by the Texan army of 
eight hundred men under Sam Houston. The Mexican 
force was completely routed and Santa Anna taken pris- 
oner. Santa Anna, in grave danger of being shot in 
reprisal for the shooting of Texan prisoners, sent orders 
to Eilisola, his second in command, to withdraw his 
three thousand men and await orders — an act of per- 
sonal cowardice which the Mexican people have never 
forgotten. Eilisola followed his instructions, and Santa 
Anna, after some months of life in prison, secured his 
own liberty by agreeing to recognize the independence 
of Texas. Santa Anna returned to Mexico, where the 
government declined to support his action, and endeav- 



60 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOREOW 

ored, unsuccessfullj, to raise funds for a new campaign 
against Texas. While discredited, Santa Anna man- 
aged to keep a hold on the military element, and con- 
tinued to be a power in politics for some years. 

In 1836 Spain gave official recognition to the Mexi- 
can republic. This, coupled with the elimination of 
complications through the independence of Texas, prom- 
ised Mexico freedom from foreign troubles. Mean- 
while, however, trouble had been brewing with France 
over a question of claims of Trench citizens for losses 
in the various upheavals in Mexico, and in 1839 France 
sent a squadron of ten ships to Mexico, established a 
blockade and captured Vera Cruz after a bombardment 
in which, incidentally, Santa Anna lost a leg. The 
French claims were settled by the payment of 600,000 
pesos, for 200,000 pesos of which the French govern- 
ment never found any claimants. 



CHAPTER VII 
MADAME CALDEEON DE LA BARCA 

It woiild be wearisome to go into the detail of the 
petty squabbles and the series of political turnovers in 
the next few years of Mexican history. A vivid pic- 
ture has been painted, however, by Madame Calderon 
de la Barca, wife of the first minister sent by Spain 
to Mexico, in her " Life in Mexico," first published in 
1842 and republished recently (E. P. Button & Co., 
New York). Madame de la Barca was Scotch and en- 
dowed with a rich fund of the wit of her race. Her 
book not only gives a graphic picture of life in Mexico 
but is bright and entertaining throughout, and well 
worth reading. To give some idea of the conditions 
prevailing eighty years ago the following extracts from 
this charming work are given. 

" One circumstance must be observed by all who 
travel in Mexican territory. There is not one human 
being or passing object that is not in itself a picture, 
or which would not form a good subject for the pencil. 
The Indian women with their plaited hair, and little 
children slung to their backs, their large straw hats, 
and petticoats of two colors — the long strings of ar- 
rieros with their loaded mules, and swarthy, wild-look- 
ing faces — the chance horseman who passes with his 
sarape of many colors, his high ornamented saddle, 
Mexican- silver stirrups, and leathern boots — this is 
picturesque. Salvator Rosa and Hogarth might have 

61 



62 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOREOW 

traveled here to advantage: Salvator for tlie sublime, 
and Hogarth taking him up when the sublime became 
the ridiculous. . . . 

" The common Indians, whom we see every day bring- 
ing in their fruit and vegetables to market, are, gener- 
ally speaking, very plain, with an humble, mild expres- 
sion of countenance, very gentle, and wonderfully 
polite in their manners to each other ; but occasionally, 
in the lower classes, one sees a face and form so beauti- 
ful, that we might suppose such another was the Indian 
who enchanted Cortes ; with eyes and hair of extraor- 
dinary beauty, a complexion dark but glowing, with the 
Indian beauty of teeth like the driven snow, together 
with small feet and beautifully-shaped hands and arms, 
however imbrowned by sun and toil. . . . 

" It has a character peculiar to itself, great plains 
of maguey, with its huts with uncultivated patches, that 
have once been gardens, still filled with flowers and 
choked with weeds; the huts themselves, generally of 
mud, yet not unfrequently of solid stone, roofless and 
windowless, with traces of having been fine buildings 
in former days ; the complete solitude, unbroken except 
by the passing Indian, certainly as much in a state of 
savage nature as the lower class of Mexicans were when 
Cortes first traversed these plains — with the same 
character, gentle and cowardly, false and cunning, as 
weak animals are apt to be by nature, and indolent 
and improvident as men are in a fine climate; ruins 
everywhere — here a viceroy's country palace serving 
as a tavern, where the mules stop to rest, and the driv- 
ers to drink pulque — there, a whole village crumbling 
to pieces ; roofless houses, broken down walls and arches, 
an old church — the remains of a convent. . . . Tor 
leagues scarcely a tree to be seen ; then a clump of the 
graceful Arbol de Peru, or one great cypress — long 



MADAME CALDEEOIT DE LA BAECA 63 

strings of mules and asses, with their drivers — pas- 
ture-fields with cattle — then again whole tracts of 
maguey, as far as the eye can reach; no roads worthy 
of the name, but a passage made between fields of 
maguey, bordered by crumbling-down low stone walls, 
causing a jolting from which not even the easy move- 
ment of Charles X's coach can save us. But the horses 
go at full gallop, accustomed to go through and over 
everything. . . . 

" Then as to schools, there are none that can deserve 
the name, and no governesses. Young girls can have no 
emulation, for they never meet. They have no public 
diversion, and no private amusement. There are a few 
good foreign masters, most of whom have come to Mex- 
ico for the purpose of making their fortune, by teach- 
ing, or marriage, or both, and whose object, naturally, 
is to make the most money in the shortest possible time, 
that they may return home and enjoy it. The children 
generally appear to have an extraordinary disposition 
for music and drawing, yet there are few girls who are 
proficient in either. . . . 

" EEVOLUTION in Mexico ! or Pronunciamiento, 
as they call it. The storm which has for some time 
been brewing has burst forth at last. Don Valentin 
Gomez Farias and the banished General Urrea have 
pronounced for federalism. At two this morning, 
joined by the fifth battalion and the regiment of comer- 
cio, they took up arms, set off for the palace, surprised 
the president in his bed, and took him prisoner. Our 
first information was a message arriving on the part of 
the government, desiring the attendance of two old sol- 
diers, who put on their old uniforms, and set off quite 

pleased. N^ext came our friend Don M del 

C 0, who advised us to haul out the Spanish col- 
ors, that they might be in readiness to fly on the bal- 



64 MEXICO TO-DAY A¥D TO-MORROW 

cony in case of necessity. Little by little, more Span- 
iards arrived with different reports as to tlie state of 
things. Some say that it will end in a few hours — 
others, that it will be a long and bloody contest. Some 
are assured that it will merely terminate in a change 
of ministry — others that Santa Anna will come on 
directly and usurp the presidency. At all events, Gen- 
eral Valencia, at the head of the government troops, is 
about to attack the pronunciados, who are in possession 
of the palace. . . . 

" The firing has begun ! People come running up 
the street. The Indians are hurrying back to their vil- 
lages in double-quick trot. As we are not in the center 
of the city, our position for the present is very safe, 
all the cannon being directed towards the palace. All 
the streets near the square are planted with cannon, 
and it is pretended that the revolutionary party are 
giving arms to the leperos. The cannon are roaring 
now. All along the street people are standing on the 
balconies, looking anxiously in the direction of the pal- 
ace, or collected in groups before the doors, and the 
atzoteas, which are out of the line of fire, are covered 
with men. They are ringing the tocsin — things seem 
to be getting serious. 

" Nine o'clock, p. m. — Continuation of firing without 
interruption. I have spent the day standing on the 
balcony, looking at the smoke, and listening to the dif- 
ferent rumors. Gomez Farias has been proclaimed 
president by his party. The streets near the square 
are said to be strewed with dead and wounded. There 
was a terrible thunderstorm this afternoon. Mingled 
with the roaring of the cannon, it sounded like a strife 
between heavenly and earthly artillery. We shall not 
pass a very easy night, especially without our soldiers. 



MADAME CALDEK0:N" DE LA BAKCA 65 

Unfortunately there is a bright moon, so niglit brings 
no interruption to the firing and slaughter. 

" Our first news was brought very early this morning 
by the wife of one of the soldiers, who came in great 
despair to tell us that both her husband and his com- 
rade are shot, though not killed — that they were 
amongst the first who fell ; and she came to entreat 

C n to prevent their being sent to the hospital. It 

is reported that Bustamente has escaped, and that he 
fought his way, sword in hand, through the soldiers 
who guarded him in his apartment. Almonte at all 
events is at the head of his troops. The balls have 
entered many houses in the square. It must be terri- 
bly dangerous for those who live there, and amongst 
others, for our friend Senor Tagle, Director of the 
Monte Pio, and his family. 

"They have just brought the government bulletin, 
which gives the following statement of the circum- 
stances : ' Yesterday, at midnight, Urrea, with a hand- 
ful of troops belonging to the garrison and its neighbor- 
hood took possession of the National Palace, surprising 
the guard, and committing the incivility of imprisoning 
His Excellency the President, Don Anastasio Busta- 
mente, the commander-in-chief, the Mayor de la Plaza, 
and other chiefs. Don Gabriel Valencia, chief of the 
plana mayor (the staff). General Don Antonio Mozo, and 
the Minister of War, Don Juan Nepomuceno Almonte, 
reunited in the citadel, prepared to attack the pronunci- 
ados, who, arming the lowest populace, took possession of 
the towers of the cathedral, and of some of the highest 
edifices in the center of the city. Although summoned 
to surrender, at two in the afternoon firing began, and 
continued till midnight, recommencing at five in the 
morning, and only ceasing at intervals. The colonel of 



66 MEXICO TO-DAY A¥D TO-MOEEOW 

the sixtli regiment, together with a considerable part of 
his corps, who were in the barracks of the palace, es- 
caped and joined the government troops, who have taken 
the greater part of the positions near the square and 
the palace. His Excellency the President, with a part 
of the troops which had pronounced in the palace, made 
his escape on the morning of the sixteenth, putting him- 
self at the head of the troops who have remained faith- 
ful to their colors, and at night published the following 
proclamation : 

u i u rpi^g President of the Eepublic to the Mexican 
liTation. 

" ' " Eellow-Citizens : The seduction which has 
spread over a very small part of the people and garri- 
son of this capital ; the f orgetf ulness of honor and duty, 
have caused the defection of a few soldiers, whose mis- 
conduct up to this hour has been thrown into confusion 
by the valiant behavior of the greatest part of the chiefs, 
officers, and soldiers, who have intrepidly followed the 
example of the valiant general-in-chief of the plana 
mayor of the army. The government was not ignorant 
of the machinations that were carrying on; their au- 
thors were well known to it, and it foresaw that the 
gentleness and clemency which it had hitherto employed 
in order to disarm them, would be corresponded to with 
ingratitude. 

a i u rpj^-g Y^^Q q£ policy has caused the nation to re- 
main headless (acefala) for some hours, and public 
tranquillity to be disturbed; but my liberty being re- 
stored, the dissidents, convinced of the evils which have 
been and may be caused by these tumults, depend upon 
a reconciliation for their security. The government 
will remember that they are misled men, belonging to 
the great Mexican family, but not for this will it for- 
get how much they have forfeited their rights to respect ; 



MADAME CALDERON" DE LA BARCA 67 

nor what is due to the great bulk of the nation. Public 
tranquillity will be restored in a few hours; the laws 
will immediately recover their energy and the govern- 
ment will see them obeyed, 

" ^ " AWASTASIO BUSTAMENTE. 

" ' " Mexico, July 16th, 1840." ' 

" A roar of cannon from the Palace, which made the 
house shake and the windows rattle, and caused me to 
throw a blot over the President's good name, seems 
the answer to this proclamation, 

" 17th. — The state of things is very bad. Cannon 
planted, all along the streets, and soldiers firing indis- 
criminately on all who pass. Count C a slightly 

wounded, and carried to bis country-house at Tacubaya. 
Two Spaniards have escaped from their house, into 
which the balls were pouring, and have taken refuge 

here. The E family have kept their house, which 

is in the very center of the affray, cannons planted be- 
fore their door, and all their windows already smashed. 
Indeed, nearly all the houses in that quarters are aban- 
doned. We are living here like prisoners in a fortress. 

The Countess Del V e, whose father was shot in 

a former revolution, had just risen this morning, when 
a shell entered the wall close by the side of her bed, and 
burst in the mattress. 

" As there are two sides to every story, listen to the 
proclamation of the chief of the rebels. 

" ' Senor Valentin Gomez Earias to the Mexican 
People. 

" ' Eellow-Citizens : We present to the civilized 
world two facts, which, while they will cover with eter- 
nal glory the Eederal army and the heroic inhabitants 
of this capital, will hand down with execration and in- 
famy, to all future generations, the name of General 



68 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOREOW 

Bustamente; this man without faith, breaking his sol- 
emnly-pledged word, after being put at liberty by an 
excess of generosity ; for having promised to take imme- 
diate steps to bring about a negotiation of peace, upon 
the honorable basis which was proposed to him, he is 
now converted into the chief of an army, the enemy of 
the Federalists; and has beheld, with a serene counte- 
nance, this beautiful capital destroyed, a multitude of 
families drowned in tears, and the death of many citi- 
zens ; not only of the combatants, but of those who have 
taken no part in the struggle. Amongst these must be 
counted an unfortunate woman enceinte, who was killed 
as she was passing the palace gates under the belief 
that a parley having come from his camp, the firing 
would be suspended, as in fact it was on our side. This 
government, informed of the misfortune, sent for the 
husband of the deceased, and ordered twenty-five dol- 
lars to be given him; but the unfortunate man, though 
plunged in grief, declared that twelve were sufficient to 
supply his wants. Such was the horror inspired by 
the atrocious conduct of the ex-government of Busta- 
mente, that this sentiment covered up and suffocated 
all the others. 

" ' Another fact, of which we shall with difficulty 
find an example in history, is the following. The day 
that the firing began, being in want of some implements 
of war, it was necessary to cause an iron case to be 
opened, belonging to Don Stanislaus Flores, in which 
he had a considerable sum of money in different coin, 
besides his most valuable effects. Thus, all that the 
government could do, was to make this known to the 
owner, Senor Flores, in order that he might send a 
person of confidence to take charge of his interests, 
making known what was wanting, that he might be 
immediately paid. The pertinacity of the firing pre- 



MADAME CALDEKO:Nr DE LA BAECA 69 

vented Senor Elores from naming a commissioner for 
four days, and then, although the case has been open, 
and no one has taken charge of it, the commissioner 
has made known officially that nothing is taken from 
it but the implements of war which were sent for. 
Glory in yourselves, Mexicans ! The most polished na- 
tion of the earth, illustrious France, has not presented 
a similar fact. The Mexicans possess heroic virtues, 
which will raise them above all the nations in the 
world. This is the only ambition of your fellow-citi- 
zen, 

" ' VALENTuq- Gomez Eakias. 
"'Mexico, July 17th, 1840.' 

," 21st. — After passing a sleepless night, listening to 
the roaring of cannon, and figuring to ourselves the 
devastation that must have taken place, we find to our 
amusement that nothing decisive has occurred. The 
noise last night was mere skirmishing, and half the can- 
nons were fired in the air. In the darkness there was 
no mark. But though the loss on either side is so much 
less than might have been expected, the rebels in the 
palace cannot be very comfortable, for they say that 
the air is infected by the number of unburied dead bod- 
ies lying there; indeed there are many lying unburied 
on the streets, which is enough to raise a fever, to add 
to the calamitous state of things. 

" The tranquillity of the sovereign people during 
all this period is astonishing. In what other city in 
the world would they not have taken part with one or 
other side? Shops shut, workmen out of employment, 
thousands of idle people, subsisting, Heaven only knows 
how, yet no riot, no confusion, apparently no impa- 
tience. Groups of people collect on the streets, or 
stand talking before their doors, and speculate upon 



70 MEXICO TO-DAY A:N'D TO-MOREOW 

probabilities, but await tbe decision of tbeir military 
chiefs, as if it were a judgment from Heaven, from 
which it were both useless and impious to appeal. 

" This being Sunday, and a fete-day, a man was 
murdered close by our door, in a quarrel brought about 
probably through the influence of pulque, or rather of 
chinguirite. If they did not so often end in a deadly 
quarrel, there would be nothing so amusing as to watch 
the Indians gradually becoming a little intoxicated. 
They are at first so polite, — handing the pulque-jar to 
their fair companions (fair being taken in the general 
or Pickwickian sense of the word) ; always taking off 
their hats to each other, and if they meet a woman, 
kissing her hand with an humble bow as if she were a 
duchess ; — but these same women are sure to be the 
cause of a quarrel, and then out come these horrible 
knives — and then, Adios ! . . . 

" It is impossible to conceive anything more humble 
and polite than the common country-people. Men and 
women stop and wish you a good day, the men holding 
their hats in their hands, and all showing their white 
teeth, and faces lighted up by careless good-nature. I 
regret to state, however, that to-day there are a great 
many women quite as tipsy as the men, returning home 
after the fete, and increasing the distance to their 
village, by taking a zigzag direction through the 
streets. . . . 

" Senor Canedo, Secretary of State, has formally an- 
nounced his intention of resigning. Certainly the sit- 
uation of premier in Mexico, at this moment, is far 
from enviable, and the more distinguished and clear- 
headed the individual, the more plainly he perceives 
the impossibility of remedying the thickly-gathering 
evils which crowd the political horizon. ' Eevolution,' 
says Senor de , ' has followed revolution since the 



MADAME CALDEKOE" DE LA BARCA Tl 

Independence, no stable government has yet been estab- 
lished. Had it been so, Mexico would have offered 
to our eyes a phenomenon unknown until now in the 
world — that of a people, without previous prepara- 
tion, passing at once to govern themselves by democrat- 
ical institutions.' . . . 

" They, as well as every Mexican, whether man or 
woman, not under forty, have lived under the Spanish 
government; have seen the revolution of Dolores of 
1810, with continuations and variations by Morelos, 
and paralyzation in 1819 ; the revolution of Yturbide 
in 1821; the cry of Liberty (grito de Libertad) given 
by those generals ' benemeritos de la patria,' Santa 
Anna and Victoria, in 1822; the establishment of the 
federal system in 1824; the horrible revolution of the 
Acordada, in which Mexico was pillaged, in 1828; the 
adoption of the central system in 1836 ; and the last 
revolution of the federalists in 1840. Another is pre- 
dicted for next month, as if it were an eclipse of the 
sun. In nineteen years three forms of government have 
been tried, and two constitutions, the reform of one of 
which is still pending in the Chambers. 

" If any one wishes to try the effect of strong con- 
trast, let him come direct from the United States to this 
country; but it is in the villages especially that the 
contrast is most striking. Traveling in New England, 
for example, we arrive at a small and flourishing village. 
We see four new churches, proclaiming four different 
sects; religion suited to all customers. These wooden 
churches or meeting-houses are all new, all painted 
white, or perhaps a bright red. Hard by is a tavern 
with a green paling, as clean and as new as the churches, 
and there are also various smart stores and neat dwell- 
ing-houses ; all new, all wooden, all clean, and all orna- 
mented with slight Grecian pillars. The whole has 



Y2 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORKOW 

a cheerful, trim, and flourishing aspect. Houses, 
churches, stores, and taverns, all are of a piece. They 
are suited to the present emergency, whatever that may 
be, though they will never make fine ruins. Every- 
thing proclaims prosperity, equality, consistency; the 
past forgotten, the present all in all, and the future tak- 
ing care of itself. 'No delicate attentions to posterity, 
who can never pay its debts. No beggars. If a man 
has even a hole in his coat, he must be lately from the 
Emerald Isle. . . . 

" Transport yourself in imagination from this New 

England village to that of , it matters not which, 

not far from Mexico. Look on this picture, and on 
that. The Indian huts, with their half-naked inmates, 
and little gardens full of flowers; the huts themselves 
either built of clay or the half-ruined beaux restes of 
some stone building. At a little distance an hacienda, 
like a deserted palace, built of solid masonry, with its 
inner patio surrounded by thick stone pillars, with 
great walls and iron barred windows that might stand 
a siege. Here a ruined arch and cross, so solidly built, 
that one cannot but wonder how the stones ever crum- 
bled away. There, rising in the midst of old faithful- 
looking trees, the church, gray and ancient, but strong 
as if designed for eternity ; with its saints and virgins, 
and martyrs and relics, its gold and silver and precious 
stones, whose value would buy up all the spare lots in 
the New England village; the lepero with scarce a rag 
to cover him, kneeling on that marble pavement. Leave 
the enclosure of the church, observe the stone wall that 
bounds the road for more than a mile; the fruit trees 
overtopping it, high though it be, with their loaded 
branches. This is the convent orchard. And that great 
Gothic pile of building, that stands in hoary majesty, 



MADAME CALDEROlSr DE LA BAKCA 73 

surmounted bj the lofty mountains, whose cloud-en- 
veloped summits, tinged by the evening sun, rise behind 
it ; what could so noble a building be but the monastery, 
perhaps of the Carmelites, because of its exceeding rich 
garden, and well-chosen site, for they, of all monks, 
are richest in this world's goods ? Also we may see the 
reverend old prior riding slowly from under the arched 
gate up the village lanes, the Indians coming from their 
huts to do him lowly reverence as he passes. Here, 
everything reminds us of the past ; of the conquering 
Spaniards, who seemed to build for eternity; impress- 
ing each work with their own solid, grave, and religious 
character; of the triumphs of Catholicism; and of the 
Indians when Cortes first startled them from their 
repose, and stood before them like the fulfillment of 
half-forgotten prophecy. It is the present that seems 
like a dream, a pale reflection of the past. All is de- 
caying and growing fainter, and men seem trusting to 
some unknown future which they may never see. One 
government has been abandoned, and there is none in 
its place. One revolution follows another, yet the 
remedy is not found. Let them beware lest half a 
century later, they be awakened from their delusion, 
and find the cathedral turned into a meeting-house, and 
all painted white; the railing melted down; the silver 
transformed into dollars; the Virgin's jewels sold to 
the highest bidder; the floor washed (which would do 
it no harm), and round the whole, a nice new wooden 
paling, freshly done in green — and all this performed 
by some of the artists from the wide-awake republic 
farther north. . . . 

" Certainly no visible improvement has taken, 
place in their condition since the independence. They 
are quite as poor and quite as ignorant, and quite as 



74 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEKOW 

degraded as thej were in 1808, and if they do raise a 
little grain of their own, thej are so hardly taxed that 
the privilege is as nought. . . . 

" 1st Sept. — This revolution is like a game at chess, 
in which kings, castles, knights, and bishops, are making 
different moves, while the pawns are looking on or tak- 
ing no part whatever. 

" To understand the state of the board, it is necessary 
to explain the position of the four principal pieces — 
Santa Anna., Bustamente, Paredes, and Valencia. The 
first move was made by Paredes, who published his 
plan, and pronounced on the eighth of August at Guada- 
lajara. About the same time, Don F M: , a 

Spanish broker, who had gone to Manga de Clavo, was 
sent to Guadalajara, and had a conference with Pa- 
redes, the result of which was, that the plan of that 
general was withdrawn, and it was supposed that he 
and Santa Anna had formed a combination. Shortly 
after, the Censor of Vera Cruz, a newspaper entirely 
devoted to Santa Anna, pronounced in favor of the plan 
of Paredes, and Santa Anna, with a few miserable 
troops, and a handful of cavalry, arrived at Perote. 
Here he remains for the present, kept in check by the 
(government) General Torrejon. Meanwhile Paredes, 
with about six hundred men, left Guadalajara and 
marched upon Guanajuato ; and there a blow was given 
to the government party by the defection of General 
Cortazar, who thought fit thus to show his grateful sense 
of having just received the rank of general of brigade 
with the insignia of this new grade, which the president 
put on with his own hands. Another check to the pres- 
ident. Once begun, defection spread rapidly, and Pa- 
redes and Cortazar having advanced upon Queretaro, 
found that General Juvera, with his garrison, had al- 
ready pronounced there, at the moment that they were 



MADAME CALDEROIT DE LA BAECA TS 

expected in Mexico to assist the government against 
Valencia. Paredes, Cortazar, and Juvera are now 
united, and their forces amount to two thousand two 
hundred men. 

" Meanwhile General Valencia, pressed to declare his 
plan, has replied that he awaits the announcement of the 
intentions of Generals Paredes and Santa Anna; and, 
for his own part, only desires the dismissal of General 
Bustamente. 

" This, then, is the position of the three principal 
pronounced chiefs, on this second day of September of 
the year of our Lord 1841. Santa Anna in Perote, 
hesitating whether to advance or retreat, and, in fact, 
prevented from doing either by the vicinity of General 
Torrejon. Paredes in Queretaro, with the other re- 
volted generals. Valencia in the citadel of Mexico with 
his pronunciados ; while Bustamente, with Generals 
Almonte and Canalize, the mark against which all these 
hostile operations are directed, is determined, it is said, 
to fight to the last. 

" Mexico looks as if it had got a general holiday. 
Shops shut up, and all business at a stand. The peo- 
ple, with the utmost apathy, are collected in groups, 
talking quietly; the ofiicers are galloping about; gen- 
erals, in a somewhat parti-colored dress, with large gray 
hats, striped pantaloons, old coats, and generals' belts, 
fine horses, and crimson color velvet saddles. The shop- 
keepers in the square have been removing their goods 
and money. An occasional shot is heard, and some- 
times a volley, succeeded by a dead silence. The arch- 
bishop shows his reverend face now and then upon the 
opposite balcony of his palace, looks out a little while, 
and then retires. The chief effect, so far, is imiversal 
idleness in man and beast, — the soldiers and their quad- 
rupeds excepted. However, every turret and belfry is 



76 MEXICO TO-DAY A:^D TO-MOKROW 

covered with soldiers, and the streets are blocked up 
with troops and trenches. From behind these turrets 
and trenches they fire at each other, scarcely a soldier 
falling, but numbers of peaceful citizens; shells and 
bombs falling through the roofs of the houses, and all 
this for ' the public good.' 

" The war of July had at least a shadow of pretext ; 
it was a war of party, and those who wished to reestab- 
lish federalism may have acted with good faith. ]^ow 
there is neither principle, nor pretext, nor plan, nor 
the shadow of reason or legality. Disloyalty, hypocrisy, 
and the most sordid calculation, are all the motives that 
can be discovered ; and those who then affected an ardent 
desire for the welfare of their country have now thrown 
aside their masks, and appear in their true colors ; and 
the great mass of the people, who, thus passive and op- 
pressed, allow their quiet homes to be invaded, are kept 
in awe neither by the force of arms, nor by the depth 
of the views of the conspirators, but by a handful of 
soldiers, who are themselves scarcely aware of their 
own. wishes or intentions, but that they desire power 
and distinction at any price. 

" 23rd. — We have received news this morning of 
the murder of our porter, the Spaniard whom we had 
brought from Havana. He had left us, and was em- 
ployed as porter in a fabrica (manufactory), where the 
wife and family of the proprietor resided. Eight of 
General Valencia's soldiers sallied forth from the cita- 
del to rob this factory, and poor Jose, the most faith- 
ful and honest of servants, having valiantly defended 
the door, was cruelly murdered. They afterwards en- 
tered the building, robbed, and committed dreadful out- 
rages. They are selling printed papers through the 
streets to-day, giving an account of it. The men are 
taken up, and it is said will be shot by orders of the 



MADAME CALDEEON" DE LA BAECA 77 

general; but we doubt this, even tbougb a message bas 
arrived, requiring the attendance of the padre who con- 
fesses criminals ; a Franciscan monk, who, with various 
of his brethren, are living here for safety at present. 

" The situation of Mexico is melancholy. 

" 24th. — ISTews have arrived that General Paredes 
has arrived at the Lecheria, an hacienda belonging to 
this family, about three leagues from San Xavier; and 
that from thence he sent one of the servants of the farm 
to Mexico, inviting the president to a personal confer- 
ence. The family take this news of their hacienda's 
being turned into military quarters very philosophically ; 
the only precaution on these occasions being to conceal 
the best horses, as the pronunciados help themselves, 
without ceremony, to these useful quadrupeds, wher- 
ever they are to be found, 

" We have just returned after a sunny walk, and an 
inspection of the pronunciados — they are too near Mex- 
ico now for me to venture to call them the rebels. The 
infantry, it must be confessed, was in a very ragged and 
drunken condition — the cavalry better, having bor- 
rowed fresh horses as they went along. Though cer- 
tainly not point-device in their accouterments, their 
good horses, high saddles, bronze faces, and picturesque 
attire, had a fine effect as they passed along under the 
burning sun. The sick followed on asses, and amongst 
them various masculine women, with sarapes or Mangas 
and large straw hats, tied down with colored handker- 
chiefs, mounted on mules or horses. The sumpter 
mules followed, carrying provisions, camp-beds, etc. ; 
and various Indian women trotted on foot in the rear, 
carrying their husbands' boots and clothes. There was 
certainly no beauty amongst these feminine followers 
of the camp', especially amongst the mounted Amazons, 
who looked like very ugly men in a semi-female disguise. 



T8 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

The whole party are on their way to Tacubaya, to join 
Santa Anna! The game is nearly up now. Check 
from two knights and a castle — from Santa Anna and 
Paredes in Tacubaya, and from Valencia in the citadel. 
People are flying in all directions, some from Mexico, 
and others from Guadalupe and Tacubaya. . . . 

" It appears that Santa Anna was marching from 
Puebla, feeling his way towards the capital in fear and 
trembling. At Eio Frio a sentinel's gun having acci- 
dentally gone off, the whole army were thrown into 
the most ludicrous consternation and confusion. Near 
Oyotla the general's brow cleared up, for here he was 
met by coromissioners from the government. Generals 
Orbegoso and Guyame. In a moment the quick appre- 
hension of Santa Anna saw that the day was his own. 
He gave orders to continue the march with all speed to 
Tacubaya, affecting to listen to the proposals of the 
corcqnissioners, amusing them without compromising 
himself, and offering to treat with them at Mexical- 
singo. They returned without having received any de- 
cided answer, and without, on their part, having given 
any assurance that his march should not be stopped; 
yet he has been permitted to arrive unmolested at Tacu- 
baya, where Paredes has also arrived, and where he 
has been joined by General Valencia; so that the three 
pronunciado generals are now united there to dispose 
of the fate of the republic. . . • 

" The same day General Almonte had an interview 
with Santa Anna, who said with a smile, when he left 
him, ' Es buen muchacho (he is a good lad) — he may 
be of service to us yet.' 

" The three allied sovereigns are now in the arch- 
bishop's palace at Tacubaya, whence they are to dic- 
tate to the president and the nation. But they are, 
in fact, chiefly occupied with their respective en- 



MADAME CALDEEO]^ DE LA BAKCA Y9 

gagements and respective rights. Paredes wishes to 
fulfill his engageinents with the departments of Guan- 
juato, Jalisco, Zacatecas, AgTias Calientes, Queretaro, 
etc. In his plan he promised them religious toleration, 
permission for foreigners to hold property, and so on — 
the last, in fact, being his favorite project. Valencia, 
on his side, has his engagements to fulfi.ll with the fed- 
eralists, and has proposed Senor Pedraza as an integral 
part of the regeneration — one whose name will give 
confidence now and ever to his party. General Santa 
Anna has engagements with himself. He has deter- 
mined to command them all, and allows them to fight 
amongst themselves, provided he governs. Paredes is, 
in fact, furious with Valencia, accusing him of having 
interfered when not wanted, and of having ruined his 
plan, by mingling it with a revolution, with which it 
had no concern. He does not reflect that Valencia was 
the person who gave the mortal wound to the govern- 
ment. Had he not revolted, Santa Anna would not 
have left Perote, nor Paredes himself passed on unmo- 
lested. . . ." 



CHAPTEE YIII 
AMEEICAN WAE — FRENCH OCCUPATION 

The admission of Texps to tke American union in 
1844 precipitated war with the United States. His- 
torians seem to be unanimous that there was no just 
cause for war, and that the attack on Mexico was an 
act of oppression on a weak neighbor. In any event, 
it is certain that Mexico was in no shape for a foreign 
war. " The condition of the country to provide for its 
defense against foreign attack could not have been 
worse," says Verdia, " Unstable governments ; entire 
penury : a demoralized and corrupted army, without or- 
ganization and without a single capable leader: the 
political parties effervescent and inexorable: the clergy 
egoistic, and the public cold." The American army 
under Zachary Taylor attempted to move on Mexico 
from the north, but the plan proved a failure because 
of the difficulties of keeping open the lines of communi- 
cation. An expedition was accordingly sent to Vera 
Cruz, and Winfield Scott, after taking the port, marched 
on the capital, meeting with stout resistance along the 
route. The fortress of Chapultepec was stormed and 
taken, and, once the American forces were in posses- 
sion of this commanding point, resistance practically 
ceased. Among the defenders of Chapultepec were 
the students of the National Military Academy, and 
their heroic resistance, fighting until every boy was 
killed or wounded, shines as brightly to-day as it did 
three quarters of a century ago. By a treaty signed 

80 



AMEKICAN" WAK 81 

on February 2nd, 1848, Mexico ceded to the United 
States Texas, New Mexico and California, received 
fifteen million pesos of indemnity, and was released 
from various American claims amounting to three mil- 
lion pesos. 

For seven years following tlie war witli the United 
States Mexico was ruled, or misruled, under the dicta- 
torship, direct or indirect, of Santa Anna. Public 
opinion became so strong that Santa Anna finally fled 
to Havana, and his departure was followed by three 
years of more or less chaotic conditions, with three or 
four insurrections and turnovers. 

In 1858 Benito Juarez, President of the Supreme 
Court, came into the presidency by succession. His 
government was bitterly opposed by the conservative 
party, and a new revolution broke out. Most of the 
time during the next three years the conservative gov- 
ernment was in control of the capital, but the state of 
its affairs is indicated by the fact that, to obtain a loan 
of one million pesos from a Swiss banking house it 
was obliged to give fifteen million pesos in bonds, se- 
cured by twenty per cent, of all national revenues. The 
Juarez government, after three years of fighting, finally 
overthrew the government in power. Juarez, who was 
of pure Indian blood, was a lawyer of distinction and 
a man of constructive ability. He was, however, sur- 
rounded by minor leaders who had their own interests 
at heart more than those of the nation, and many of 
the reform measures put through under a new consti- 
tution were nullified by arbitrary acts of ambitious in- 
dividuals. The church and state were separated, free- 
dom of religious thought guaranteed, and civil marriage 
established. Church lands were transferred to the ISTa- 
tion, but in the confusion of the time the best of them 
passed into the possession of party leaders and their 



82 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

friends. Juarez had barely established himself in the 
capital when another insurrection started, headed by 
three conservative leaders, and there followed seven 
months of fighting before the government was in full 
control of the country. Meanwhile, the treasury had 
been emptied by military expenditures, and the govern- 
ment issued a decree suspending, for two years, pay- 
ments on its national and foreign obligations. 

The suspension of payments brought forth vigorous 
protests from England, Erance and Spain, and finally 
resulted in negotiations between these countries for 
united action against Mexico. France's claims were 
entirely commercial, and were partly stimulated by an 
interest held by ITapoleon Ill's minister in the Swiss 
loan made to the Conservative government. England, 
aside from commercial claims, was piqued by the fact 
that the conservative government had seized 600,000 
pesos belonging to the British legation. Spain had some 
commercial claims, and a claim for the assassination of 
twenty-five Spanish subjects, who had been attacked by 
bandits. Spain, moreover, was irritated by the fact 
that the Spanish minister had been given his passport 
as a persona non grata because of his open support of 
the conservative party. A convention was signed in 
London for a joint expedition, but it was agreed that 
action should be confined to seizure of ports and other 
methods to secure proper guarantees for the future. A 
Spanish fleet arrived at Vera Cruz on the 29th of No- 
vember, 1861, and the city, having been evacuated by 
the Mexicans, was occupied a few days later. On Jan- 
uary 7, a combined British and French fleet arrived, and 
the following day an ultimatum was sent to the Mex- 
ican government setting forth the respective claims and 
demands of the three governments. There was no unity 
of action, however. The British and Spanish declined 



AMEEICAI^ WAE 83 

to support tlie French plan of establishing a monarchy 
in Mexico, and took little part in subsequent proceed- 
ings. JSTegotiations with the Mexican government came 
to nothing. The Mexican representatives at a con- 
ference protested, in vain, that the various acts com- 
plained of were not those of the constituted Mexican 
government but were the acts of usurpers and bandits, 
and that the only act for which the constituted govern- 
ment was responsible, the suspension of payments, was 
due solely to the inability of the government to pay. 
The French forces, meanwhile, had been greatly in- 
creased in number by the arrival in March of a large 
convoy, and the British and Spanish representatives, 
seeing that France was bent on seizure of the country 
and the establishment of a monarchy, declared the con- 
vention signed in London null and void, and refused 
to take any further part in the affair. France, which 
had the least legitimate claims, was thus left alone to 
carry out Louis ISTapoleon's ambitious plan of a French- 
controlled Mexican empire with Archduke Maximilian 
of Austria as Emperor. Negotiations of the French 
with the Mexicans were of a perfunctory character. 
The French, determined on a permanent occupation of 
Mexico, would listen to no proposals, and started to 
advance with six thousand men on the capital. Their 
commander had, however, underestimated the fighting 
qualities of the Mexicans, and was obliged, after some 
heavy fighting, to entrench himself at Orizaba and 
await reenforcements. In September Field Marshal 
Forey arrived at Vera Cruz with 31,000 men, and after 
some months of delay he started, at the head of an army 
of 36,000 men, for the capital. The Mexican army 
of 20,000 men, poorly equipped and badly provisioned, 
had gathered at Puebla to make a stand against the in- 
vader. Forey laid siege to Puebla and entirely cut off 



84: MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKEOW 

supplies, so that the Mexicans, after 62 days of siege, 
were obliged to surrender. Further resistance was im- 
possible, and the French army entered the capital on 
June 7, 1863, after Juarez and his ministers had with- 
drawn to San Luis Potosi. The French, to give a sem- 
blance of legality to proceedings, ordered the formation 
of a junta of thirty-live Mexicans, to be named by the 
French minister, the junta to elect three Mexicans to 
provisionally govern and to name a council of 215 
members to establish the permanent form of govern- 
ment. The council was composed of conservatives and 
clericals who were tools of the French, and within a 
month proclaimed Mexico to be a constitutional and 
hereditary monarchy, with a Catholic monarch with the 
title of Emperor, the latter to be Maximilian, or, in the 
event of his declining, to be some one named by jSTapo- 
leon III. In pursuance of this program Maximilian 
was named Emperor, accepted the position and came to 
Mexico with the Empress Carlotta, arriving at the cap- 
ital on June 12, 1864. 

The French invasion did not have the support of 
England or Spain. The United States made emphatic 
protest, but the American government, then occupied 
with a civil war, was in no position to back up its posi- 
tion. The French public took little interest. Maxi- 
milian, left largely to rule the country as he pleased, 
plunged the government into heavy debts, partly through 
court extravagance, partly through recog-nition of French 
claims and partly through heavy military expenditures. 
The French claims recognized totaled 173,000,000 
pesos, including 23,000,000 for transport of troops, 
74,000,000 for war expenses, 9,000,000 for foreign 
legion expenses, 18,000,000 for the use of the French 
army, 15,000,000 to cover the Swiss loan, 15,000,000 
for miscellaneous claims, and 19,000,000 for interest — 



AMEEICAN WAK 85 

and all this against a country whose bankruptcy pre- 
cipitated the war! The emperor received a salary of 
a million pesos a year, an annual grant of two hundred 
thousand was made to the Empress, and a brilliant court 
was maintained at great expense. The great extrava- 
gance aroused much ill-feeling among the Mexicans and 
in a large measure alienated the support of the conserva- 
tives, who had at first given hearty support to the em- 
pire. It inspired the republicans to continuous effort 
to drive out the invaders, and Maximilian had hardly 
arrived in Mexico before he was confronted with formi- 
dable fighting in three or four sections of the country. 
He was, in consequence, obliged to maintain an army 
of 63,000 men, 28,000 of them French, 6,000 Aus- 
trian Volunteers, 1,300 Belgians and the balance Mex- 
ican conservatives and imperialists. Harsh measures 
were resorted to in the hope of stifling the revolutionary 
movement, a decree being signed in October, 1865, pro- 
viding the death penalty for any prisoners taken in 
action against the government. Large bodies of troops 
were sent ]^orth. South and West to crush republican 
leaders and their troops. The situation was compli- 
cated by the fact that many of the republican troops 
were undisciplined and in several cases led by men who 
were bandits first and patriots second, resulting in the 
commission of serious excesses which, in turn, justified 
drastic measures. Reprisals followed reprisals until 
the war became one of extermination. Towns and plan- 
tations were burned by the imperialists, civilians sus- 
pected of republican sympathies were shot, and, in gen- 
eral, a ruthless campaign was waged to stamp out every 
republican tendency. On the other hand, the republi- 
can forces, frequently only large bands of guerillas, 
lived for the most part by pillage and plunder, wreak- 
ing vengeance on any one who opposed their operations. 



86 MEXICO TO-DAY ANB TO-MOKEOW 

Meanwliile Juarez, at Paso del Norte, maintained the 
nucleus of a government, exercised, so far as possible, 
a control over the various leaders, and endeavored to 
push something like a military campaign. 

In 1864 the Empire borrowed, in London and Paris, 
forty million dollars, the loan being at 6 per cent, but 
being sold to the financial houses at 37 per cent, dis- 
count, the annual charge therefore being practically 
ten per cent. In the year following fifty million dol- 
lars of 6 per cent, bonds were sold in Paris at 32 per 
cent, discount, calling for practically 9 per cent, inter- 
est. In each case a portion or all of the interest was 
discounted, and a large part of the proceeds was used 
to satisfy outstanding French claims, so that the gov- 
ernment finally realized less than five million dollars 
in cash from the financing. The loans had hardly been 
concluded before the government was again in difficul- 
ties. 

The government's troubles were now increased by 
events abroad. The United States, in December, 1865, 
made an energetic protest to France against the 
intervention in Mexico. A few months later Prussia's 
victory over Austria created a new menace for France. 
In view of the possibility of trouble with the United 
States, and to better prepare France against pos- 
sible attack by Prussia, jSTapoleon decided to abandon 
the Mexican Empire to its own fate, and announced 
that the French troops would be withdra^\Ti in 1867. 
Before this was known in Mexico the republican forces 
had been making much headway and had, at several 
points, won important victories in battles with the im- 
perialist troops. The news that the French troops would 
be withdrawn gave them more confidence and stimulated 
them to further efforts, and, at the same time, it greatly 
discouraged the Mexican leaders and troops who had 



AMEEICAN WAR 87 

joined the imperialist cause. Maximilian felt tlie hope- 
lessness of victory without European support. He was 
inclined to abdicate, but the decision of a council of 
friends and ministers was against such a course. Fight- 
ing continued throughout the country, with the odds 
generally in favor of the Republican forces. Maxi- 
milian organized his army into three units or armies, 
the Northern, Central and Eastern, and attempted to 
push a swift campaign to end the revolution, but all in 
vain. In the fall of 1866 defeat followed defeat. The 
Republican cause, in spite of lack of money or dis- 
ciplined forces, kept gaining headway. Colima and the 
surrounding country fell into Republican hands, Guada- 
lajara followed, and General Porfirio Diaz defeated 
imperial forces and occupied Oaxaca. Again Maxi- 
milian thought of abdication, but, with the indecision 
characteristic in all his acts, decided to leave the matter 
to a council of leading imperialists. The council, com- 
posed of 35 men, met on January 17, 1867, and voted, 
27 to 8, against abdication. Republican victories con- 
tinued, Zacatecas, San Luis and Guanajuato falling by 
the end of the month. Maximilian left the capital for 
Queretaro to be in the center of military operations, 
and attempted, too late, to prevent the union of the Re- 
publican armies of the North and West. By the middle 
of March Queretaro was surrounded by the Republican 
forces numbering nearly 30,000 men. Marquez, one 
of Maximilian's generals, was sent to Mexico to bring 
the garrison of the capital to Queretaro in a desperate 
effort to break through the lines, but, instead of follow- 
ing instructions, he took the available forces and at- 
tempted, with them, to raise the siege of Puebla by 
General Diaz. The latter, learning of Marquez' inten- 
tion, made a brilliant assault, carried the city and then 
turned his victorious army on Marquez, who, having 



88 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORKOW 

learned of Puebla's fall, liad started back for the cap- 
ital. On April 12 the siege of Mexico City by the Ee- 
piiblican forces under Diaz was begun, and all hope of 
relief for Maximilian from this quarter ended. The 
besieged at Queretaro made several unsuccessful efforts 
to fight their way out, and, cut off from supplies, their 
situation grew desperate. On May 16 Maximilian 
surrendered, and, on delivering his sword, requested 
that his family be allowed to embark for Europe. He 
made a plea for his generals and leaders, saying that 
they had merely been following his orders and fortunes, 
and that he wished to be the only victim of the catas- 
trophe. The Republican leaders called a court martial, 
under a law passed in 1862 providing the death penalty 
for all enemies of the Republic, and the court, meeting 
on June 14, condemned to death Maximilian and his 
two generals, Miramon and Mejia. In spite of the ef- 
forts of friends, of protests from representatives of 
other governments and of an appeal from the United 
States, the condemned men were shot on June 19, 1867, 
at Cerro de Las Campanas, near Queretaro. Maxi- 
milian's dream of a great Mexican empire was ended. 
Mexico City capitulated on June 20, and Vera Cruz 
eight days later. The war had been a bloody one, with 
losses in killed, wounded and prisoners, of 73,037 for 
the Republican forces and 12,209 for the Mexican Im- 
perialists, while the French lost, in killed, nearly 25,000 
men. 

Juarez reentered the capital on July 15, 1867. The 
country, after three years of revolution, was in a de- 
plorable condition. Business was at a standstill, and 
the government had much difficulty in collecting taxes. 
The army, which had grown to large proportions, was 
now cut down to 20,000 men, and other measures were 
taken to bring down expenses. Some of the military 



AMEEICAIT WAK 89 

leaders were disaffected, and the Juarez government 
was hardly reestablished before new revolts began to 
appear. Early in 1868 there was an uprising in Yuca- 
tan and another in Sinaloa, and General jN'^egrete '' pro- 
nounced " and seized Puebla. Other generals, in 1869, 
revolted San Luis Potosi and Zacatecas, and, obtaining 
a considerable following, soon had Central Mexico in 
an uproar. Another military leader, once defeated in 
Sinaloa, appeared suddenly at the port of Guaymas in 
a chartered boat carrying 120 men, seized the town and 
captured 5,000 rifles and 80,000 pesos and made good 
his escape, only to have his boat sunk later. In May, 
1871, the military " pronounced " in Tampico, and held 
the town twenty days against the government forces 
sent to put down the incipient insurrection. While the 
various uprisings were, in each case, put down, there 
was sufficient disorder to cause dissatisfaction, and to 
furnish an excuse for ambitious military leaders to 
declare for some new change. Juarez was reelected 
President in the Fall of 1871, and almost immediately 
the validity of the election was attacked by a group of 
military leaders who proposed the " plan de Noria " for 
the suspension of constitutional order and the calling 
of a junta or commission to reorganize the country. 
The Juarez forces, after two or three engagements, put 
down opposition, and the country entered on a brief 
period of much needed peace. Juarez was making 
good progress in the rebuilding of the government and 
the development of the country when he was stricken 
by heart trouble, dying on the 18th of July, 1872. 
Juarez, while not a great man, was a thorough patriot 
and devoted to the welfare of his country, giving it the 
first taste of a government not dominated by selfish and 
personal motives. His death was deeply mourned by 
the people, and his name has gone down in Mexican 



90 MEXICO TO-DAY AI^D TO-MOREOW 

history as the father of constitutional government of the 
country. 

Juarez was succeeded by Sebastian Lerdo, President 
of the Supreme Court, who continued the policy of 
Juarez and enforced the provisions of the constitution 
covering a separation of church and state and prohibit- 
ing religious orders from acquiring lands. During 
Lerdo's regime Lozada, an Indian bandit from Topic, 
led a force of eight thousand men to attack Guadala- 
jara. He was defeated by government forces, captured 
and executed, and the country, for some time, lived in 
peace. Lerdo was a candidate for reelection, and was 
declared the winner in an election which was generally 
known to have been fraudulent. Opposition to his re- 
election was led by Porfirio Diaz, who, taking advan- 
tage of a denouncement by the President of the Supreme 
Court of the illegality of the proceedings, seized the 
reins of government on ISTovember 26, 1876. In May 
following General Diaz was duly elected president, for 
the term ending in ISTovember, 1880, and on a platform 
opposing reelection. In accordance with this platform, 
General Diaz was not a candidate for reelection in 1880, 
Manuel Gonzalez occupying the chair for four years, 
but his rule of Mexico was practically continuous from 
1876 until 1911. 



CHAI*TER IX 
POEEIEIO DIAZ 

So miicli has been written of this remarkable man 
that it would be useless to attempt more in these pages 
than a bare outline of his character and motives. To 
the foreigner he has been pictured as the greatest man 
produced by Latin America; to the Mexican he was, 
for a third of a century, a symbol of power; to the 
sociologist he appears as a despot. He has been lauded 
as few other rulers ever have been, and he has, during 
the past seven years, been as cordially abused. Born 
of Indian parents and of pure Indian blood, his origin 
was most modest; from young manhood to old age he 
was an aristocrat par excellence. He received a mili- 
tary training, and his rule, through many years, was a 
rule based on military strength. A man born of the 
people, he had contempt for the people; knowing his 
own people, he built up for them a paternal form of 
government which fell of its own weight; a great man 
in force, in decision, in organization, he fell short of 
greatness in his failure to recognize the inherent weak- 
ness of the system he developed ; a statesman in foreign 
relations, he failed to even start his own country on 
sound political lines of thought; honest, he failed to 
realize or to stop the abuses of his own supporters ; a 
patriot in desiring the development of the riches of the 
country, he failed to realize that no development can 
be real where the mass of people fail to move forward 
in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; in brief, 

91 



92 MEXICO TO-DAY AISTD TO-MOREOW 

his greatness was that of a military leader, and his 
policy that of a feudal lord. 

The subsequent political upheaval was so directly due 
to conditions prevailing in Mexico that it is necessary 
to make some detailed analysis of the course of events 
during General Diaz' regime. Diaz was a born leader, 
and his first experience was with wild and undisciplined 
troops. Everything in his military career tended to 
make him think in units of force rather than to consider 
the individual. The country, when he came into power, 
was suffering from the effects of years of misrule by 
unscrupulous dictators and from a four years' war to 
throw out a foreign invader. The government was 
bankrupt, there was no business, plantations had been 
ruined during the civil strife following the empire, peo- 
ple were starving, and leaders and troops were apt, 
at any moment, to start new troubles. JSTothing but 
forceful, drastic and quick action would convince every 
one that further upheavals would not be permitted. 
At the first sign of any revolt, therefore, there was swift 
vengeance — so swift and ruthless that an indelible 
memory of it was left in the neighborhood. The coun- 
try was full of bandits, who, roaming in small bands, 
had been able to dodge half hearted troops and to loot 
at pleasure. A war of extermination was begun on the 
bandits, and, after it had been carried far enough to 
satisfy them that, sooner or later, they would all be 
lined up and shot, their leaders were given a chance to 
enroll, with their men, in a well paid and well dis- 
ciplined rural police force to keep the country districts 
safe — with the stone wall and firing squad as an op- 
tion. They enrolled — and, from this beginning there 
developed a magnificent force, the " rurales," which, 
for riding and fighting qualities, has not often been 
excelled. Eorce, more force, ruthless force, sudden 



POEFIKIO DIAZ 93 

annihilation — these soon began to whip the country 
into shape. 

Diaz, knowing the incapacity of the average Indian 
for self-government, devised a political system well 
suited, theoretically, for the needs of the people. Each 
community had a jefe politico, or political chief, re- 
sponsible to the state governor. The jefe was, prac- 
tically, " the whole works " in his district. He gave 
the Indians advice, helped settle their disputes, col- 
lected the taxes, and was, in many respects, what the 
tribal chiefs had formerly been, with the important 
distinction that the tribes or communities had no voice 
in his selection. The plan, in its inception, was not 
vicious, and was, in many ways, well suited to the com- 
munities. A good political jefe was almost a father 
to the peon, who, with his childlike nature, wants some 
one to take his troubles to. To carry out a general 
scheme of reorganization it was essential to have no op- 
position in congress, and, in the selection of candidates, 
the jefe politico was particularly useful to the govern- 
ment, as he was always in a position to say how many 
votes had been cast for the government candidate in 
his district. Under this system elections were mani- 
festly a farce — if, indeed, anything like an election 
was attempted. Ballot-box stuffing was unnecessary 
because the polling booth was usually at the jefatura — 
the jefe's office — and no one voted unless asked to do 
so. In view of the ignorance of the people these strong- 
arm methods, considered from the viewpoint of the gov- 
ernment, were fully justified. 

The next great move was to get some industrial de- 
velopment. I^^othing much could be done without rail- 
roads, which, moreover, would be useful for military 
operations in case of trouble. A railway had been built 
to Puebla in 1869, and the lin'e to Vera Cruz opened 



94 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEROW 

three years later. The government, anxious to cover 
the country with a network of roads, was confronted 
with a big problem. There was no capital in the coun- 
try for the work, and foreign capital, looking over the 
years of political troubles in Mexico, was timid. The 
government did not own great stretches of land which 
it could offer as compensation for the financial risk, 
and it was obliged, to interest capital, to make very 
liberal concessions, grant high tariffs and exemptions 
from taxes. Even these inducements were insufficient, 
and resort had to be had to heavy subsidies, guaranteed, 
in most cases, by a portion of custom house revenues. 
We are apt, in looking back half a century, to judge 
events by present day standards, and to ignore condi- 
tions as then existing. American politicians set up a 
hue and cry over the great " steal " of the railroads in 
the land grants given them to build Western roads — 
grants which, as a matter of fact, had no tangible value 
and only a small potential value even with the develop- 
ment of transportation. In the early fifties a private 
company undertook the construction of canal and locks 
on the St. Mary's River at Sault Ste, Marie, Michigan, 
and, not having the funds to complete the work, ap- 
pealed to the state for aid. Michigan was money poor 
and land rich, and responded, not with cash, but with 
a vast grant of land. Certain mineral lands included 
in the grant now yield the canal company an annual 
income equal to the total amount of the subsidy asked, 
— and the arrangement has been called a " steal." So 
with many of the early Mexican concessions. With 
need for development, with no credit, the government 
made the best bargains it could. Little by little rail- 
ways began to push out from the capital. North, South 
and West. With the opening of railways other indus- 
try became possible, but in its efforts to foster new lines 



<.i* 



POKFIEIO DIAZ 95 

of economic activity the goveriuneiit often went too far. 
Cotton was produced throughout the country in consid- 
erable quantities, and to increase this production and 
stimulate manufacturing, liberal concessions were given 
under guarantees to put prohibitive duties on imported 
manufactured cotton. The net result of some of these 
concessions was to develop an artificial industry, but, 
at the same time, to greatly increase the cost to the con- 
sumer. Cotton goods, used by all the people, cost dou- 
ble their former price, and, while cotton planters and 
spinners reaped some benefits, the loss was greater than 
the gain. 

/In spite of mistakes, Mexico slowly but surely pressed 
forward. It was not all easy going. The people, 
crushed under slavery for centuries, lacked initiative. 
There was no considerable amount of native capital. 
The railroad problem, with a small traffic in sparsely 
settled regions, was not an easy one, more frequently 
yielding deficits than profits. But Mexicp is rich in 
the products of the soil, and, given peace, cannot fail 
to prosper even under adverse conditions. JSTew min- 
ing districts opened up along the railways, and old dis- 
tricts, abandoned for lack of rich ores, became, under 
the stimulus of transportation, large shippers of low 
grade ores. Agricultural activity became greater, and 
new factories opened. All this meant more work, more 
money in circulation, and increased government reve- 
nues. Gradually the economic situation became more 
stable, and with this stability there was a steady im- 
provement in the strength of the government. In the 
first fifty years of independence there had never been 
such a thing as national credit. The foreign loans and 
credits obtained by Maximilian were based rather on 
French than Mexican support, and these credits, on 
the downfall of the Empire, became a burden rather 



90 MEXICO TO-DAY Al^J) TO-MOEKOW 

tlian a lielp. The first ten years of Diaz' rule were, 
therefore, accompanied by continuous diflSculty in at- 
tempting to place the government on a sound financial 
basis. Some money had been obtained in England, and 
there were certain English debts in connection with the 
various railway guarantees. There were, also, a large 
amount of French claims pressing. Due to the general 
improvement in the situation the government was able, 
in 1887, to float, in Berlin, a loan of somewhat more 
than fifty million dollars, half of which was used to 
reduce British and Erench claims and the balance for 
domestic needs and government expenses. Erom this 
time forward there was comparatively little difficulty 
in financing. The Banco I^acional, established in 1882 
by a combination of Erench, Spanish and government 
capital, had grown to be a strong institution and was 
able to take care of the currency needs of the nation 
under a concession (similar to the provisions of the 
Federal Reserve Banking Act) which permitted it to 
issue its notes against fifty per cent, cash reserves and 
fifty per cent, commercial paper discounted for other 
banks. Various state banks also issued notes under 
state concessions. The value of the peso, fixed at 49.6 
cents, was stable, the banks prospered, and by 1893 
government credit was well established both at home 
and abroad. 

During this time necessary changes were made in 
the laws to permit the reelection of the president. In 
1882 the constitution had been changed to provide for 
succession of the presidency to the president of the sen- 
ate instead of the president of the Supreme Court, and 
this was now changed to have the presidency pass, in 
case of death or disability, to a member of the cabinet, 
in a certain order of priority. The government was 
well settled, and hereafter was to be a close corporation. ' 



CHAPTER X 
THE CIENTIFICOS 

Up to this point there seems to have been little rea- 
son to find fault with the Diaz government, and much 
reason to praise it. During Gonzalez' terms as Pres- 
ident some of the people in the administration acquired 
either a direct or speculative interest in a large amount 
of English owned Mexican bonds, then selling at a 
fraction of their par value, and the administration 
attempted, unsuccessfully, to force through legislation 
which was designed to secure redemption of the bonds 
at par. As the Gonzalez government was, in personnel, 
composed largely of Diaz adherents, this could, in a 
measure, be counted against Diaz. There were minor 
claims of abuses, particularly regarding land questions. 
On the whole, however, there was little criticism. 
Every one recognized, moreover, that Mexico, for the 
first time since its independence was declared, had a 
stable government, and that national credit and finance 
were in fair or even good shape. Brigandage had been 
exterminated. Foreign capital was beginning to seek 
a field in Mexico. Diaz was a dictator, but there was 
no indication that he was greatly enriching himself by 
abuse of his power. 

Just when a change began to be felt is uncertain. 
Whether there was any change in policy is also uncer- 
tain, and it seems more likely that the change, such as 
it was, was gradual, and that perhaps, or even probably, 
those in power were not conscious of any change. The 

97 



98 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW 

government, nominally of a democratic character, was 
really an oligarchy, self perpetuating, legalized by a 
constitution, supported by a congress. It was rather 
a system than a political organization. It was in no 
sense the product of party politics, for politics, as such, 
barely existed. It was a big machine, controlled by 
one strong man, who, with a few friends and advisers, 
proposed to attend to the administration and politics 
of the whole country. The machine had some big 
wheels in the various government departments, army, 
public works, industries, interior, and the like. Con- 
gress was a side machine whose chief function was to 
put everything in legal form. In each state was a ma- 
chine, with a governor and a legislature, and working 
as part of the state machine were the jefe politicos, or 
local chiefs. It was "boss rule" of a^ highly scientific 
type, and had a great advantage over American " boss 
rule " in that there was no opposition. In fact, opposi- 
tion was not wanted, and if any signs of it developed 
as much of the machine as necessary was set to work 
to grind it out of existence. 

It has frequently been said that the rule of Diaz was 
really the rule of the rich class, but this was hardly 
the case. In Mexico the rich class had not often been 
active in government matters. It had been more than 
willing to be left alone. It had wanted a government 
which would preserve order, be lenient as to taxes, and 
keep the native Indian in his proper position. Diaz 
ruled with an iron hand, and the rich class gave him 
such moral support as he wanted. The Government 
was not, however, one organized by the rich element, 
but rather one which that element was glad to support. 
Directly this class (excepting a few immediately asso- 
ciated with the government) took no interest in public 
affairs. It paid its taxes and encouraged the church 



THE CIEl^TIFICOS 99 

to support the government, and in return enjoyed pub- 
lic order and received support — rurales or troops when 
necessary. In the end it amounted to almost the same 
thing as if the rich class had been the government it- 
self. The rich class could not get along without a 
strong power in control, while the government, receiv- 
ing revenues and support from that class, could afford 
to be very " easy " with it. The two, therefore, came 
to be hand-in-giove. The only reason for making this 
distinction and relationship clear is to emphasize the 
fact that, had the government been one actively partici- 
pated in by the rich class, it would doubtless have been 
careful not to let abuses become so grave as to threaten 
its existence. The situation has had many parallels 
in American politics in cases where corrupt boss or 
party machines have been built up, not by or even with 
the connivance of the wealthy class but rather because 
of the indolence and indifference of that class, which, 
in paying for a certain amount of protection, has only 
paved the way for further excesses and abuses of power. 
The Diaz government doubtless never deliberately 
started out to abuse its power. Diaz was a born leader 
who soon found that with a few able men with him 
he could absolutely dominate the country. He loved 
power for power's sake, and proceeded to build up a 
machine that would run the government — and keep 
him in power. Then some one discovered that the 
machine, while grinding out government business, could 
grind personal axes as well. More axes were brought 
in by others in the circle, and now and then some friend 
had an ax to grind, so that before long the machine wag 
doing a lot of work for which it was not designed. 

^ The " Cientificos " (scientists from the " scientific " 
scheme of government), were those who were in the 
inner circle or who, acting with government people, 



100 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

derived benefit from various governmeiLt legislation, 
public works, concessions, contracts, etc. The real 
'' Cientifico " group was quite small and was composed 
of men wbo bandied government contracts, certain 
bankers, a few large landowners, and a number of men 
in active politics. Properly speaking, there were prob- 
ably not over fifty " Cientificos " — a close political- 
financial ring which had, however, extensive ramifica- 
tions. The revolutionary party, since it came in power, 
has, in a vague way, extended the term to apply to many 
who were not properly in the ring. In other words, 
many who inherited wealth or who indirectly derived 
benefit from the prevailing conditions have been cred- 
ited with being " Cientificos " when, as a matter of 
fact, they took no interest whatever in political matters 
and had no hand in the deals put through. In the eyes 
of many of those identified with the revolutionary party 
the mere possession of wealth was evidence of guilty 
participation in the corruption of politics. There were, 
as pointed out before, a large number of landowners who 
acquiesced in the government's methods of doing busi- 
ness, and gave it moral support, receiving, in return, 
" protection " of one sort or another. Many of these 
derived much direct or indirect benefit under the gen- 
eral political scheme, but they were not in most cases 
in any way responsible for the conditions. '' 

Another class which derived certain benefits under the 
system were the salaried employees of the government. 
Many of these men were conscientious and efiicient pub- 
lic servants who received only moderate pay, and whose 
interest consisted, aside from the direct question of pay, 
in holding responsible and permanent positions. While 
it is true that some government officials used their posi- 
tions to enrich themselves, there were many who were 
above any suspicion in all their dealings. Contrary to 



THE CIENTinCOS 101 

the prevailing general impression, there was little graft 
in public offices. Public utility corporations, for in- 
stance, rarely had to pay out money to get things done. 
There were some remarkable cases of efficient and hon- 
est administration. The great waterworks system, con- 
structed to bring water from Xochimilco to Mexico 
City, was built by the government, and is as fine an 
example of engineering work as is to be found on the 
continent. The size of the work involved, in spite of 
economical administration, the expenditure of many 
millions of dollars. The engineer who designed and 
carried out the construction of the work from beginning 
to end retired from office, on the change of administra- 
tion, practically penniless. The last director of public 
works in Mexico City under Diaz, occupying a posi- 
tion affording vast opportunities for graft in dealing 
with public service and other corporations, was obliged, 
when forced out of office by the changed order of things, 
to seek a modest clerkship in ISTew York. Some gov- 
ernors, even, were left in comparative poverty when 
they lost their positions. For the honest and efficient 
government official the political turnover was a disaster, 
as the mere fact of his having been employed under the 
old regime was sufficient to condemn him. 

Before examining the operations of the " Cientifi- 
cos " it is worth while to outline the way the govern- 
ment was run and to explain its relations to foreign 
capital, concessions, and the like. Such graft as ex- 
isted was " higher up," and the government depart- 
ments were, as a whole, honestly conducted. When 
viewed from the standpoint of an efficiency expert, gov- 
ernment departments, the world over, can hardly be 
called efficient, and the Mexican departments were 
scarcely an exception to the rule. iSFevertheless, they 
were conducted with regularity, and business was trans- 



102 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKEOW 

acted with reasonable speed and, generally speaking, 
with gTeat accuracy. Governmental practice in Mex- 
ico follows the French scheme, both being based, pri- 
marily, on the Roman legal code, and, latterly, on the 
code JS^apoleon. Under this practice every government 
or private act, especially as to contractual relations, is 
provided for by the code, the functions of courts being 
rather to determine questions of fact than those of 
equity. The general tendency, therefore, is that much 
more detail is covered, specifically, in government con- 
tracts and concessions than is the case in the United 
States and other countries which, in government prac- 
tice, follow the English common law scheme. In all 
Mexican concessions covering public utilities, for in- 
stance, the exact duties, obligations and rights of a com- 
pany are specified with a minuteness which is rarely 
found in American franchises. In the United States 
franchise terms have frequently been of a general char- 
acter, and in many states there were specific laws per- 
mitting the organization, under such laws, of telephone, 
electric light and power, interurban railway and other 
companies performing public services, the companies 
being free to establish their own rates and regulations. 
Only, in fact, within the past ten or twelve years has 
there been, in the United States, any general movement, 
through the creation of public service co mm issions, to 
regulate public service corporations in their relations 
with the public. In Mexico for many years all con- 
cessions of this character have been very explicit as to 
tariffs and details of operation, and the provisions, in 
general, have safeguarded the interests of the public. 
It is true that liberal concessions were granted to at- 
tract capital, and doubtless, in view of the results ob- 
tained, some of the provisions of concessions were more 
liberal than they should have been. In many cases 



THE CIENTIFICOS 103 

practical exemption from taxes was granted, and, while 
such a provision may have been necessary during a 
short period while the business in question was in proc- 
ess of development, it was scarcely fair to the public 
that such exemption should have been granted, as was 
done in many cases, for a long term of years. Some 
of the largest concerns in Mexico have, as a result of 
this sort of policy, what amounts to entire exemption 
from taxes for terms varying from twenty-five to ninety- 
nine years. In justification of the policy it may be said, 
however, that it was not an easy matter to interest cap- 
ital in Mexico, especially as, contemporaneous with de- 
velopment in Mexico, there was a world-wide movement 
in railway, electric power and other public utility con- 
struction — a movement on such a large scale as to 
absorb all capital available for this class of investment. 
Irrigation works in India, railway and other public 
utility developments in the Argentine, Brazil, Chili, 
China, India, Egypt and South Africa, were all bidding 
for money, and offering very liberal conditions. Amer- 
ican railways were being consolidated, great power 
plants were being built, and Canada was absorbing a 
vast amount of capital in her Western development. 
The great world-wide movement in foreign investments, 
begun in the early 'nineties, was in full sway, and 
Mexico was in competition with a dozen other nations 
which were in the market. She was, in a measure, 
forced to offer good terms or keep out of the market. 

Much money was, of course, made out of the disposi- 
tion of concessions, which were duly turned into cash, 
or its equivalent in stocks and bonds of companies or- 
ganized. The impression as to the proportion of such 
profits to the actual investment involved has, however, 
been a greatly exaggerated one, both in the United 
States and in Mexico. There is a general impression 



104 MEXICO TO-DAY A¥D TO-MOKEOW 

that the Mexican public was shamefully exploited by 
foreign speculators and promoters, and that this ex- 
ploitation was carried on by collusion with the group 
which dominated government aiiairs. The facts do 
not justify this impression, except, perhaps, in a few 
cases. There were, to be sure, promotion profits, but 
without these no one would have undertaken to have 
raised the money for the different enterprises. So far 
as public utilities was, concerned, the promotion profits 
in various undertakings were proportionately smaller 
than those made in corresponding American enter- 
prises. In general, it is safe to say that the net benefits 
to capital invested were, due to many unknown factors 
in an untried field, smaller than those derived from 
corresponding investment in the United States, Canada, 
the Argentine and other countries in which economic 
conditions were better understood. The gTossly exag- 
gerated idea of profits made by various concerns has 
been of the greatest possible detriment through the 
creation of a generally hostile attitude toward invest- 
ments already made and through the discouragement of 
anv further inversion of capital in the country. 



CHAPTER XI 
SOCIAL CONDITIONS 

In the early day of the Diaz government there was, 
seemingly, little complaint of abuse of power, and mem- 
bers of the government circle did not, apparently, make 
much profit out of concessions granted. The govern- 
ment was genuinely anxious to have a great development 
of the natural resources of the country, and any one 
willing to undertake something which gave promise of 
constructive value could obtain the necessary concession 
or contract. Viewed in the light of subsequent events, 
and judged by standards established at later periods, it 
seems as if the government, in its anxiety to place the 
nation on a par with other nations in the program of 
internal development, devoted an undue proportion of 
attention to making such development attractive to cap- 
ital, and not sufficient to the real needs of the people. 
It probably felt that the stimulation of industry itself 
would be sufficient. Doubtless personal interest played 
some part, but, broadly speaking, the motives back of 
the program were good. General Diaz, at the end of a 
rule of thirty-five years, had, according to common re- 
port, a fortune of three-quarters of a million dollars — 
an accumulation at an average rate of twenty-five thou- 
sand dollars per year. Had his motives been purely 
selfish he could easily have built up a fortune of many 
millions. He doubtless believed that a form of benev- 
olent dictatorship was best suited to the country's needs. 
To give the country such a government he needed the 

105 



106 MEXICO TO-DAY A:N'D TO-MORROW 

aid of a few strong men, and to have tlie continued 
support of such men he was willing that they should 
receive some tangible benefits. 

The whole scheme was sound enough, and honest 
enough, in the beginning, but little by little selfish in- 
terests began to play a more important part in affairs. 
The government was intended to be a paternal one, but 
bit by bit it became more personal and less paternal. 
It was a great machine, built up and run by one man, 
and operating in every nook and corner of the country. 
Governors and jefe politicos, even if honest and unselfish 
themselves, gradually came more and more under its 
influence, and became more and more subservient to 
the wealthy class whose support gave it power. 

As has been pointed out, Spanish rule in Mexico was 
designed for the Spaniards, and the wealthy class was 
exclusively Spanish. The native Indian, except as a 
unit of labor, had no participation in the general scheme 
of things. .This condition was not materially changed 
by independence, for at no time had the masses ad- 
vanced sufiBciently to exercise any political influence. 
As Mexico had always been, primarily, an agTicultural 
country, the landholding class had always dominated 
socially and financially, and indirectly politically, l^o 
important middle class existed. Lawyers, doctors, 
tradespeople and others who composed the middle class, 
were dependent, almost entirely, on the rich class, and 
were content to cast their lot with it. The Church in 
Mexico had never developed on the broad lines along 
which it has grown in the United States, and its posi- 
tion was much like that of the church in Europe dur- 
ing the Middle Ages — extremely conservative, narrow 
in its views, a check on social development. Conse- 
quently there were few people of the educated class who 
had any interest in making protests if abuses grew out 



SOCIAL C0:N"DITI01TS 107 

* 

of the scheme of things, and the great mass of people, 
accustomed, through four centuries of practical slavery, 
to bear their bprdens in silence, neither would nor could 
make any effort to right any wrongs. 

It is manifestly unfair to assume in studying social 
conditions that all people of one class are actuated by 
the same motives, or that, for instance, all members of 
the property-holding class in Mexico were banded to- 
gether for the purpose of keeping the Indians in a sub- 
merged condition. There were many large estate hold- 
ers who were humane in the treatment of their labor, 
just as there were, in the South, many slave holders who 
were kind to their slaves and whp, by their daily lives, 
proved that they were actuated by the best motives. 
There were, in Mexico, many thousands of Indians, 
probably a majority of all the natives, who were con- 
tented and who no more wanted a change than the ma- 
jority of Southern slaves wanted freedom. They were 
used to the life as they lived it and as' their forebears 
had lived it for centuries, knew of no other life, nor 
could, in their ignorance, conceive of any other life. 
The whole system, however, was wrong. Tor many 
years there had existed a system of peonage under 
which no one was free to leave if he owed his employer 
money, and, as the estates all maintained stores to sell 
supplies to the laborers, the latter were always in debt. 
They could, then, only leave if their employer sold his 
claims to some one else, when they automatically came 
under the control of the new creditor. This system had, 
from time to time, been fearfully abused, the peons, 
where there was any surplus, being farmed out to work 
in Yucatan or in other sections which needed labor. 
While this form of slavery had been legally abolished, 
the poor peon, as he continued to be called, was, in effect, 
as much of a slave as ever. Born on an estate, he stayed 



108 MEXICO TO-DAY AN^D TO-MOKROW 

there througli force of circumstances. Education was, 
for all practical purposes, out of the question. With 
wages 40 and 50 centavos per day (20 and 25 cents) 
no man could afford to put his children in school, even 
if a school were within reach, which was rare. Every 
child became a worker as soon as he had strength enough 
to do anything. If there were more laborers than neces- 
sary, some labor agent would come along and take 
groups of families to work on plantations in regions 
where the death rate demanded a constant renewal of 
labor supply. 

Frequently the peon, finding no work in the 
neighborhood, would start across country on foot, 
taking his family and household possessions with him. 
It has always been a pathetic sight to see these Indians 
on the move — the father carrying, on his back, a bun- 
dle holding all the family possessions — one or two 
blankets, a kettle, a couple of pans and one or two bits 
of pottery ; — one or two tots, wearing shirts which had 
once been white, toddling along; the mother, with her 
youngest swung in a shawl on her back, pattering along 
in short, dog-like steps ; all silent, pushing forward with 
no particular objective save a general idea of finding 
work; stopping at the first stream to make a bush fire 
and cook a few corn cakes for a meal ; rolling up to- 
gether, under the stars, for the night — and on again 
the next day. Travel on. any road in Mexico and you 
keep meeting, out in the open country, group after 
group like this, until you become hopelessly depressed. 
Fortunately, they are used to it, and take everything 
as a matter of fact. When you greet them you will 
always receive a pleasant " buenos dias, sehor," in re- 
ply, and the women will usually show their teeth as 
they smile. But the children, poor things, are always 
solemn. It is the way of Mexican children. Their 



SOCIAL CO^DITIOJSTS 109 

expressive brown eyes gaze at you solemnly, somewhat 
shyly, and you never know whether they are happy or 
hungry. One of the things that always strikes the 
stranger in Mexico is that the children never seem to 
play. They stand or sit in doorways like a part of the 
fixed stage settings, half naked, dirty, silent. 

These wandering and homeless people are in evidence 
everywhere. In the large cities the railway stations 
afford a convenient shelter at night. In Mexico City 
the last trains leave around nine o'clock in the evening, 
and soon after that hour waiting-rooms, corridors and 
platforms fill up with homeless people, usually from 
the country, who, packed together on the fioor, sleep 
undisturbed until the station resumes its activities 
shortly before the departure of early morning trains. 
Even in the days of Mexico's greatest prosperity rail- 
way stations were always packed at night — packed 
knee-deep with men, women, children and bundles, the 
whole mass usually looking more like a huge pile of 
rags than a collection of human beings. Any disturb- 
ance in industrial or economic conditions was always 
followed by a great increase in the number of homeless 
people. A drouth in an agricultural region, the closing 
down of a mining camp, the suspension of work in a 
cotton mill town — and hundreds or thousands of peo- 
ple would start wandering around the country. 

In the rural districts each large hacienda (plantation 
farm or ranch) is a community by itself. There are 
the principal hacienda buildings, with residence, ofiice, 
chapel, store, barns and warehouses around a large 
courtyard, the whole enclosed by a high wall. Clus- 
tering around this group of buildings are numerous 
adobe houses, often no more than huts, for the laborers. 
The houses are usually one-room affairs, with a kitchen- 
shed in the rear, and the living-room is merely a shelter 



110 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKROW 

in which the family sleep. In the poorer class of 
houses beds are unknown, and the only furniture is a 
table, one or two benches, and two or three reed-mats 
on which to sleep. Very frequently there is a sort of 
an open fireplace at one end of the room, all the fam- 
ily cooking being done in the living-room. Clothes- 
washing is done in the nearest stream. One of the most 
familiar sights from railway trains in Mexico is that 
of a seemingly endless number of women scattered along 
the beds of streams near the large cities, all scrubbing 
and rubbing dripping clothes on smooth boulders. In 
many of the large cities public wash houses have been 
provided, but their capacity is limited, and the bulk of 
the population has to depend on stream washing. 

The homes of the laboring classes in the large cities 
are somewhat more substantial, and, viewed from the 
street, present a solid and comfortable appearance. 
Furnishings are scant, and general arrangements are as 
simple as those in houses in the rural districts. Crowd- 
ing among the poor is worse in the large cities, a single 
room frequently being used as sleeping quarters for ten 
or twelve people. 

The Mexican peon wastes little on clothes. In the 
country he wears a white cotton blouse and white cot- 
ton trousers, somewhat resembling a loose suit of pa- 
jamas, a pair of sandals made of rope or leather, and a 
straw sombrero. In the cities he wears a jumper and 
overalls of heavy cotton, plus sandals and sombrero. 
Underwear, except with the higher class of labor, is 
unknown. The sole protection against cold is the 
zarape, a large heavy woolen blanket, usually bright in 
colors, in which the peon muffles himself up to his 
eyes. 

Climatic conditions, fortunately, favor the simple 
life. In the tierra caliente, or hot country, it is hot. 



SOCIAL CONDITIONS 111 

even at night, save when a " norther " blows. In the 
tierra templada, or temperate country, little clothing is 
needed, although chilly and even raw weather is expe- 
rienced during a norther, sometimes for a week run- 
ning. On the Mexican plateau, however, with eight 
thousand feet of elevation, the nights are always cool, 
and the temperature drops below the freezing point in 
the winter. Mexico City all through the summer is 
cooler than New York or Chicago, and one always needs 
a blanket at night. In the winter the days are cool and 
the nights cold, but it is always dry, and the cold lacks 
the chill and penetration of the Atlantic Coast or Great 
Lakes regions. Besides, there is always brilliant sun- 
shine. The peon is at least spared acute suffering from 
cold, and, broiight up with no heat entering into his 
calculations, he probably feels such cold as there is less 
than his steam-heated neighbor from the north. 

The marriage tie in Mexico is very loosely drawn. 
Conditions as to social and family relations are primi- 
tive rather than immoral. Charles Macomb Flandrau's 
" Viva Mexico ! " which gives a vivid picture of life on 
a Mexican coffee plantation, makes clear the situation 
as to social relations. To quote from this entertaining 
book: 

" The Mexicans are an excessively passionate people 
and their passions develop at an early age (I employ 
the words in a specific sense), not only because nature 
has so ordered it, but because, owing to the way in which 
they live — whole families, not to mention animals, in 
a small, one-roomed house — the elemental facts of life 
are known to them from the time they can see with their 
eyes and hear with their ears. For a Mexican child of 
seven or eight among the lower classes, there are no 
mysteries. Boys of fifteen have had their affairs with 
older women ; boys of seventeen are usually strongly at- 



112 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKEOW 

tracted by some one person whom they would like to 
marry. And just at this interesting and important 
crisis the Church furnishes the spectator with one of its 
disappointing and somewhat gross exhibitions. 

" It seems to have been proven that for people in gen- 
eral certain rigid social laws are a comfort and an aid 
to a higher, steadier standard of thought and life. In 
communities where such usages obtain, the ordinary 
person, in taking unto himself a wife, does so with a 
feeling of finality. On one's wedding day, but little 
thought is given, I fancy, to the legal loopholes of 
escape. It strikes one as strange, as wicked even, that 
a powerful Church (a Church moreover, that regards 
marriage as a sacrament) should deliberately place in- 
superable obstacles in the path of persons who for the 
time being, at least, have every desire to tread the 
straight and narrow way. This, to its shame, the 
Church in Mexico does. 

" The only legally valid marriage ceremony in Mex- 
ico is the civil ceremony, but to a Mexican peon the civil 
ceremony means nothing whatever; he can't grasp its 
significance, and there is nothing in the prosaic, business- 
like proceeding to touch his heart and stir his imagina- 
tion. The only ceremony he recognizes is one conducted 
by a priest in a church. When he is married by a priest 
he believes himself to be married — which for moral 
and spiritual purposes is just as valuable as if he ac- 
tually were. One would suppose that the Church would 
recognize this and encourage unions of more or less sta- 
bility by making marriage inexpensive and easy. If it 
had the slightest desire to elevate the lower classes in 
Mexico from their frankly bestial attitude toward the 
marital relation — to inculcate ideas different and finer 
than those maintained by their chickens and their pigs — 
it could long since easily have done so. But quite simply 



SOCIAL COiN^DITIOl^S 113 

it has no sucli desire. In the morality of the masses it 
shows no interest. For performing the marriage cere- 
mony it charges much more than poor people can pay 
without going into debt. Now and then they go into 
debt ; more often they dispense with the ceremony. On 
my ranch, for instance, very few of the ' married ' 
people are married. Almost every grown man lives 
with a woman who makes his tortillas and bears him 
children, and about some of these households there is an 
air of permanence and content. But with the death of 
mutual desire there is nothing that tends to turn the 
scale in favor of permanence ; no sense of obligation, no 
respect for a vague authority higher and better than 
oneself, no adverse public opinion. Half an hour of 
ennui, or some one seen for a moment from a new point 
of view — and all is over. The man goes his way, the 
woman hers. The children, retaining their father's 
name, remain, as a rule, with the mother. And soon 
there is a new set of combinations. One woman who 
worked here had three small children — every one with 
a different surname; the name of its father. While 
here, she kept house with the mayordomo, who for no 
reason in particular had wearied of the wife he had 
married in church, l^o one thought it odd that she 
should have three children by different men, or that she 
should live with the mayordomo, or that the mayordomo 
should tire of his wife and live with her. As a matter 
of fact there was nothing odd about it. No one was 
doing wrong, no one was ' flying in the face of public 
opinion.' She and the three men who had successively 
deserted her, the mayordomo who found it convenient 
to form an alliance with her, and his wife, who betook 
herself to a neighboring ranch and annexed a boy of six- 
teen, were all simply living their lives in accordance 
with the promptings they had never been taught to re- 



114 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

sist. It is not umisual to liear a mother, in a mo^ 
ment of irritation, exclaim, as she gives her child a 
slap, ' Hijo de quien sabe quien!' ('Child of who 
knows whom! ') At an early age when they first fall 
in love they would, I think, almost always prefer to be 
married. But where get the ten pesos, without which 
the Church refuses to make them man and wife ? The 
idea of saving and waiting is to them, of course, utterly 
preposterous. Why should it not be? What tangible 
advantage to them would there be in postponement? 
The Church, which has always been successful in devel- 
oping and maintaining prejudices, could have developed, 
had it wished to, the strongest prejudice in favor of 
matrimony, and the permanence of the marriage tie. 
But it has not done so, and now, even when peons do 
have the religious ceremony performed, they do not con- 
sider it binding. After having gone to so much expense, 
they are not likely to separate so soon ; but that is all. 
One of the men here has been married three or four 
times and on every occasion he has treated himself to a 
religious ceremony with quite a splendid dance after- 
wards. As he is a skilled mason who commands good 
wages and has no bad habits (except that of getting mar- 
ried every little while), he can afford it. He is a genial 
sort of creature and I think he enjoys having dinner 
parties. Sometimes he deserts his wives and sometimes 
they desert him. Of course I don't know, but I have 
an idea that to have been married to him at one time or 
another carries with it considerable prestige." 



CHAPTEK XII 
HYGIENIC CONDITIONS 

Aleeeto J. Paisti, now Secretary of Industry in the 
Mexican cabinet, two years ago published a valuable 
work, " Hygiene in Mexico," which gives much inter- 
esting data on physical and hygienic conditions. In 
Mexico City the low and swampy land, with attending 
difficulties of drainage, helped to undermine public 
health. High winds, sweeping over the barren country 
around the capital, bring with them terrific dust storms 
which, gathering up the manure and accumulated filth 
of the streets, spread the germs of tuberculosis. The 
fearful crowding of people in the poorer classes breeds 
all contagious and infectious diseases. These factors, 
combined with under-feeding, result in a low state of 
vitality and a very high mortality rate. Senor Pani 
gives health statistics of various countries and of large 
cities, showing a mortality rate of IY.53 per 1000 in 
eighteen European cities of half a million population 
and a rate of 16 per thousand in eight American cities 
of about the same size, while the death rate in Mexico 
City is given at 42 per thousand. The death rate per 
thousand in Mexico City is three times that of Detroit 
and Cleveland. The only cities of corresponding size 
in the world which approach Mexico's figures are Ma- 
dras, with 39, and Cairo, with 40, in both of which 
cholera is endemic and both of which suffer from ex- 
treme heat. Mexico City, at an elevation of over Y,000 
feet above sea level, is, climatically, healthy, and, given 
proper conditions of housing and nourishment, should 

115 



116 MEXICO TO-DAY AJSTD TO-MOEEOW 

have as low a death rate as any city in the world. 

Senor Pani quotes Herve-Mangon and other author- 
ities in showing that for the normal person rations 
should produce 4,200 calories of energy for very light 
work, 4,800 for ordinary work and 6,000 for heavy 
work, while the rations received by the Mexican peon 
class can only produce from 2,800 to 3,000 calories. 
Inevitably, the wearing away process goes on at a very 
rapid rate. This not only affects, immediately, the 
death rate, but undermines the vitality of the nation. 

We are accustomed, in a general way, to talk of cheap 
labor in Mexico, without any conception of what the 
term implies. Senor Pani gives four examples of fam- 
ily earnings and expenses, any one of which, in a few 
words and figures, shows the scale of living. The case 
of Augiistin Lopez, a gardener in the public gardens, is 
typical. Lopez, his wife and his mother live in one 
room, 12 feet long, 11 feet wide and 13 feet high. 
There are two couches for furniture, there are sufficient 
kitchen utensils, and the place is very clean. Water is 
obtained from a neighboring well, and there is a public 
wash house nearby. The family, weekly, spends the 
following amount (in pesos, with the peso at 50 cents, 
U. S. currency) : 

Corn $1.04 

Beans 48 

4.4 lbs. meat 70 

Chile 16 

Salt 11 

Sugar 11 

Wood and charcoal 60 

Pulque 42— $3.62 

Rent 50 

Cotton elothj etc 62 

Soap 25 

Barber shop ( once a month .30 ) 07 

$5.06 



HYGIEISriC . CO]JTDITIO]^S 117 

Lopez earns .75 centavos daily, works seven days in 
the week, and, barring accident, earns $5.25 ($2.62 
U. S. currency), so that, if nothing extraordinary hap- 
pens and if he does not get wasteful or extravagant, his 
income leaves him 19 centavos to the good every week. 
If, through sickness, he misses a day, it takes him four 
weeks to catch up. 

Marcelino Nievs, also a gardener, earns 68 centavos 
daily, and works six days, receiving a total of $4.08 
($2.04 cents). He lives with his wife and two chil- 
dren in one room formed by an adobe wall on one side 
and boards on the other three sides, no windows, one 
door, all cooking done with charcoal in the room. His 
weekly expenses are now 58 centavos more than his in- 
come. When he can get an extra day's work on Sun- 
days he can break even. His only way of catching up 
is to cut down on food allowance and cut out any ex- 
pense for clothes. He can do away with a weekly bud- 
get of 40 centavos (20 cents) for clothes, and by re- 
ducing his food bill 10 per cent, his income will cover 
his needs. With a total weekly allowance of $1.78 
(U. S.) for two adults and two children, Marcelius could 
doubtless give some valuable pointers on food conserva- 
tion and the empty garbage pail. 

These are not exceptional cases. For many years 
gardeners and day laborers in general received 75 cen- 
tavos a day. A peso a day was a rather high wage. 
Many of the workmen supported families with children 
too small to work. If one were to look for " hard luck " 
cases, it would have been easy to find men maintaining 
six or seven in a family on 75 centavos a day. Allow- 
ance, of course, must be made for the difference in the 
style of living, but it must also be remembered that food 
is not especially cheap in Mexico. Corn, the staple of 
the country, sold in normal times at 12 pesos a carga, 



118 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKROW 

or about one dollar a bushel, as against a price of sixty 
to eighty cents per bushel (retail) in the United States. 
!Figures quoted from Senor Pani's book refer to wages 
formerly prevailing. Present conditions will be dealt 
with in another chapter. 

With two and a half million families having incomes 
of from 35 cents to 76 cents per day, social conditions in 
Mexico could not, by the wildest stretch of imagination, 
be considered as satisfactory. Life for the Mexican 
peon has, for years, even for centuries, been nothing 
more than existence, and a hand-to-mouth existence at 
that. Earnings have been barely sufficient for food and 
for the simplest sort of clothing. With the rents which 
peons have been able to pay nothing like sanitary ar- 
rangements could be provided. Disease and epidemics 
have been common. The peon could not afford doctor's 
bills, and medicines were out of the question. Educa- 
tion of children was necessarily limited to children not 
old enough to help increase the family income. During 
the Diaz regime considerable was done in the way of 
opening primary schools, and the percentage of illiter- 
acy was somewhat reduced. There were, moreover, pa- 
rochial schools which accomplished something. The 
school attendance was, however, small, even in the large 
cities, while in the rural districts schools were so far 
apart as to be out of reach for even the better class of 
laboring men. 



CHAPTER XIII 
AGFvARIAN AND OTHER PROBLEMS 

The land question in Mexico has for years been a seri- 
ous one, and to-day presents very difficult problems. 
The Spanish made huge grants of land to people of 
influence or in reward for services to the crown, and 
these great estates in many cases have passed down 
intact, either through inheritance or through sale. The 
church, during the Spanish rule, acquired immense 
holdings, and, while the church was dispossessed under 
the reforms under Juarez, the holdings, by a series of 
manipulations, passed into private hands, usually in 
the shape of large estates. The tendency for years has 
been to increase the size of existing estates through the 
purchase of adjoining properties, involving, in each 
case, large transactions which only the very rich could 
handle. A large estate frequently owns all the land in 
a valley district, and the poor classes have rarely had 
an opportunity to become land ovniers. There are 
estates in Mexico which cover immense areas. Fre- 
quently one can ride hours on the train without 
leaving the limits of a property. We have no con- 
ception of what a large estate really is. There are, 
in Mexico, one hundred estates which are credited 
with over a hundred million acres of land, or, on the 
average, over a million acres each. The Terrazas es- 
tate, mainly in Chihuahua but lapping over into adjoin- 
ing states, is said to contain 13,000,000 acres of land, 
more than twice the size of the State of iiassachusetts. 

119 



120 MEXICO TO-DAY A:N"D TO-MOEROW 

In the State of Lower California, over 700 miles long 
and nearly 100 miles wide, with an area larger than 
Michigan, 78 per cent, of the lands belong to large com- 
panies. In this state the Mexican International Coloni- 
zation Company, the Chartered Company of Lower 
California, the Adolfo Hulle Company and the Cali- 
fornia Land Company, Limited, all foreign concerns, 
hold a total of 26,070,000 acres of land, comprising an 
area of over 40,000 square miles, the first named leading 
with thirteen million four hundred thousand acres. 
The area owned by these four concerns equals, almost 
exactly, the total area of the state of Ohio. Through- 
out the Northern States very large properties are the 
rule. Between Saltillo and Zacatecas, 180 miles, all 
the land belongs to three estates. The Mexican ISTorth- 
western Railway owns a property of 3,600,000 acres, of 
which over three million acres are covered with pine, — 
the largest single tract of timber in the world. Farther 
south there are also some large properties. The railway 
travels for thirty leagues through the Escandon estate 
in Hidalgo. In the State of Tamaulipas there is a 
hacienda of 750,000 acres, of which more than half is 
tillable land but of which less than twenty thousand acres 
is cultivated. In the Tehuantepec country there are a 
number of timber grants of two hundred thousand acres 
or more. A census taken in 1910 shows that in the 
whole republic 880,000 square kilometers (550,000 
square miles) of land belong to six thousand people, 
with an average holding of 58,000 acres. While it is 
true that large stretches of these lands, particularly in 
the North, are sterile, nevertheless the figures, as show- 
ing the concentration of lands in a relatively few hands, 
are startling. There are in Mexico about 11,000 of 
what may be classed as large properties — properties of 
2,500 acres or more — as against 25,000 such properties 



AGKAEIAl^ AND OTHER PROBLEMS 121 

a hundred years ago. While, in other countries, the 
number of individual holdings has greatly increased, in 
Mexico the number of individual holdings has steadily 
decreased. 

The concentration of lands in relatively few hands has 
naturally placed definite restrictions on opportunities 
open to the peon class for improvement of its position. 
In the first place, there v^as little or no land for sale in 
small pieces. Moreover, the peon had no money with 
which to buy, further reducing the probability or possi- 
bility of his becoming a landholder. Most important of 
all, the peon lacked education, knew nothing of farming 
except such knowledge as he gained from his own expe- 
rience as a farm laborer — an experience of a mechani- 
cal sort in plowing, sowing and reaping — so that, even 
if the first two difiiculties could be overcome, the odds 
were against his succeeding as a farmer. He remained, 
by force of circumstances, a laborer working under the 
same conditions as those which had prevailed for cen- 
turies. Technically free, he was really a slave to his 
surroundings, with great odds against his breaking loose. 

The concentration of lands in large holdings had an- 
other effect on the general economic scheme through the 
curtailment of production. Whether in ranching coun- 
try or on farm land, the probability of the land being 
used to the highest advantage is naturally reduced when 
the size of the property becomes so large as to make 
personal supervision impossible. On an estate of half 
a million acres anything like personal supervision bj 
the owner was out of the question. The Mexican land- 
holders have never been industrial organizers, and with- 
out an elaborate organization the very great estates could 
not be worked to capacity. The tendency was always to 
leave the management to an administrator, or agent, 
who cultivated such land as he could, himself, watch 



122 MEXICO TO-DAY A:N"D TO-MOKEOW 

over. Moreover, in earlier days the markets for farm 
products were, because of the transportation question, 
purely of a local character, and overproduction meant 
unprofitable prices. While railroad construction had 
somewhat altered the situation, the tariffs established 
were not calculated to make for a full development of 
agricultural resources. The general tendency, there- 
fore, was toward a limited use of the soil. This had 
the double effect of avoiding any scarcity of labor, keep- 
ing down production cost, and of maintaining a high 
price for products, thus yielding the highest possible 
profit with the least possible expense and effort. This 
was, in all probability, more the result of established 
custom than of any deliberate policy on the part of the 
landholding class. As pointed out before, corn, the 
staple of the country, has, in normal times, sold for 12 
pesos a carga (about six bushels), or about a dollar a 
bushel, in spite of farm wages rarely exceeding 40 cents 
a day. 

With the general social and political conditions exist- 
ing, it was almost inevitable that there would be abuses 
of power. The rich land-owning class used its influence 
for the maintenance of the existing order of things, and, 
in some cases at least, for the extension of its power. 
In some sections communal lands were seized, on one 
protest or another, and incorporated in large estates. 
The Yaqui Indians, living in the North, were dispos- 
sessed of lands they had held for centuries, and, on their 
revolting openly against the government, large numbers 
of them were deported to work on plantations in Cam- 
peche and Yucatan. In some districts the owners of the 
largest estates had no hesitation in seizing, on a flimsy 
pretext, any lands belonging to Indian communities, 
relying on " pull " with the jefe politico, governor, or 
higher authorities to win out in case of any opposition. 



agraeia:n' and other problems 123 

Where the local authorities were corrupt it was easy to 
put through unjust deals, and where they were honest 
it was always possible to bring strong pressure to keep 
them quiet. 

Aside from the rural question there were many things 
calculated to irritate the poorer classes. Exclusive con- 
cessions were granted to people of influence for slaugh- 
ter houses, for the sale of pulque (the national bever- 
age), and for other lines of business which entered into 
the daily life of the people. As a result in certain dis- 
tricts certain families had a monopoly of half the com- 
modities. These concessions, on their face, were usually 
within the law, but were frequently so worded as to 
make competition impossible. The owners of large 
estates were protected in high prices for farm products 
by high railway tariffs and by import duties of 100 to 
250 per cent, on corn, wheat and flour. The general 
tendency of the schedule of import duties was to place 
the heaviest taxes on commodities, while luxuries such 
as silks, champagne and jewelry were lightly taxed. 
Wheat and flour paid 100 per cent, import duty, while 
diamonds and jewelry paid a nominal duty of ten per 
cent. Taxes on farm properties were levied on a basis 
of production, but doubtless in many cases the great 
landowners escaped paying their full share, and in any 
event such taxes were scarcely fairly apportioned, as the 
small farms, practically cultivated from end to end, 
paid, proportionately, much higher taxes than the great 
estates on which only a fraction of the land was tilled. 
Fernando Gonzalez Roa, in " The Mexican People and 
Their Detractors," says that " a truck farmer with a 
capital of one hundred and fifty pesos frequently paid 
a larger tax than the richest land baron of the region." 
This seems incredible, but unquestionably the tendency 
was toward an unjust distribution of the tax burden. 



124 MEXICO TO-DAY AI^D TO-MOEROW 

Senor Roa states that " the tax upon street sellers in 
public places, or small retail stores, produced more in 
one of the richest districts in the State of Guanajuato 
than the whole land tax of the district." 

Aside from questions which directly affected the great 
mass of people, there were many complaints as to the 
operations of a group which handled paving and other 
government contracts, of a monopoly granted to a com- 
pany for the manufacture of dynamite, protected by pro- 
hibitive import duties, and of the general tendency to 
grant special terms to the favored few. Three or four 
large banks, having direct or indirect government sup- 
port, were used by a group of men to feather their own 
nests. The usual method employed in these banking 
transactions was to incorporate a company to take up 
some particular line of business — the purchase and 
operation of a string of big haciendas, the construction 
of a hydro-electric plant, the development of an irriga- 
tion system, and so forth. The money required, in each 
case, was supplied by one, two or three banks on the 
notes of the corporation undertaking the business in 
question. The notes were sometimes nominally secured, 
but frequently entirely unsecured except by the business 
undertaken. If the business was a success, the banks 
were repaid from the proceeds of bonds sold to the 
public. If, however, the business proved disastrous, the 
banks were the only losers — another case of " heads I 
win and tails you lose." Some of the largest banks 
were well loaded up with the notes or securities of bank- 
rupt ventures, and many banks throughout the country 
had loaned undue proportions of their assets on haci- 
endas owned by political friends. Th6 amount of these 
holdings at one time became alarming. 

For many years there had been a demand for an agri- 
cultural bank to aid in the legitimate development of 



AGRARIAE" AND OTHER PROBLEMS 125 

farming, and, in the latter years of the Diaz regime an 
agrarian bank, the " Caja de Prestamos," was organized 
for the purpose. The government was directly behind 
this institution, was its majority stoekliolder, advanced 
it large sums of money, and secured for it, in JSTew York, 
a loan of twenty-five million dollars. This bank loaned 
out a total of $52,855,180 (pesos), but the loans were 
made to a total of only 98 people or corporations. Of 
the total loans $31,393,000 (pesos) went to twelve peo- 
ple or concerns with an average of one million three 
hundred thousand dollars apiece. As a matter of fact, 
the major portion of the funds were used to relieve other 
banks of loans of doubtful value. Some funds were 
advanced for industrial enterprises, nearly two million 
being loaned to the Monterrey Iron and Steel Works, 
and some large loans were made to large estate owners 
to enable them to acquire adjoining properties. Of the 
total loans less than five million dollars was loaned in 
lots of less than two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. 
The bank, as an agrarian aid, was a total failure, and its 
assets, in many cases, are of very doubtful value. It is 
a matter of public gossip in Mexico that this bank was 
deliberately used by certain " Cientificos " to carry 
loads which they could not carry themselves. 

Another cause for complaint arose from the conces- 
' sions granted for the development of oil lands. The 
old Mexican laws, based on code procedure, did not con- 
template the development of oil fields in the country, 
and, on the discovery of oil, individuals or companies 
were able to acquire oil lands without any encumbrance 
in the shape of existing legislation. Some of the con- 
cerns which were early in the field felt that their posi- 
tion would be more secure if they were protected by 
definite concessions. They first acquired large tracts of 
land in the oil producing district, the total holdings of 



126 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKROW 

the five largest companies being close to three million 
five hundred thousand acres. They then obtained defi- 
nite concessions giving them exclusive rights within the 
lands purchased, low fixed taxes, exemption from import 
duties for machi^xery required, certain rights of expro- 
priation for pipe lines, and, perhaps most important of 
all, a prohibition against the sinking of any wells within 
three kilometers, or about two miles, of their lands. 
Even before the business was on a commercial basis 
there was considerable gossip, almost amounting to a 
scandal, regarding these concessions. It was whispered, 
and then talked of generally, that certain people in the 
government received substantial blocks of stock for ar- 
ranging the concessions. What truth, if any, there was 
in these stories is hard to determine. The contention 
on the part of the oil companies was that, in an unknown 
field, they were taking large risks, and that, in doing 
so, they were entitled to liberal treatment for aiding in 
the development of a new industry for the country, 
Not only was the territory unknown, but there was some 
doubt as to whether the oil would be of a commercial 
grade — in fact, in the early days of the business there 
was considerable question as to whether the Mexican 
fields would be worth much. The business was almost 
exclusively in the hands of foreigners so far as operating 
companies were concerned — an English company, two 
or three large American companies, and a Dutch com- 
pany. The business, which amounted to practically 
nothing ten years ago, developed very rapidly, and the 
production has reached, already, a figure of about 
one hundred million barrels a year. The Mexican 
fields, scoffed at to begin with, became the wonder of 
the world. One gusher, the Cerro Azul, produced two 
hundred thousand barrels a day for some time. Gushers 
shot columns of oil a thousand feet in the air for days 



AGRAKIAK A:ND OTHER PROBLEMS 127 

before they could be capped, and at one well a fire 
burned two hundred thousand barrels a day for three 
weeks. The Mexican public was let in for a thousand 
fake promotions, both native and foreign, and this did 
not help the state of the public mind on the oil question. 

Some Mexicans felt dissatisfied that the mining in- 
dustry had passed into foreign hands, the figures in the 
Mexican year book for 1914 showing that of the total 
of 647 millions of pesos of capital in mining enterprises 
only 29 millions were Mexican, two- thirds of the total 
being American. The mining development by foreign- 
ers was entirely logical, as Mexico lacked capital, expe- 
rience and initiative. iN^evertheless, there was a certain 
amount of pique because the greatest industry (except 
agriculture) had passed almost exclusively into foreign 
control. 

Economic and industrial conditions both within and 
without Mexico were dominating factors in various 
industries, but many Mexicans jumped at the conclu- 
sion that the foreigners were deliberately exploiting the 
people, and that, in this, they were receiving the active 
support of the government. Diaz had certain sup- 
porters, some of them men of much ability, who, with 
him, were anxious to see foreign capital pour into the 
country but who failed to see that much of the progress 
being made was of a superficial character. Some of 
these men had been active in the administration for 
many years, and their training was against their taking 
up with reform ideas. Some of them had doubtless 
profited much by the industrial development. As a 
whole the administration was a very strongly " stand- 
pat " one. There was a feeling that public opinion 
amounted to nothing and could be defied. It is said 
that an American promoter told a member of the cabinet 
that if he would put through a certain concession he 



128 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOREOW 

would receive a hundred thousand pesos and no one 
would ever be told of it. The cabinet member is alleged 
to have said, " Make it two hundred thousand and tell 
everybody you wish to." While this tale is doubtless 
only a part of the idle gossip floating around the capital, 
it illustrates the general feeling of the public mind. 
The government felt strong and was quite indifferent 
to public protest. Diaz promised some agrarian re- 
forms, but nothing tangible resulted. Diaz, meanwhile, 
was getting old and leaning more and more on his sup- 
porters.. The Vice-President, Eamon Corral, was very 
unpopular, and, in view of the President's advanced age 
there was a very strong movement to have some one else 
elected Vice-President, but General Diaz turned a deaf 
ear to all appeals on the question. Priends of General 
Bernardo Reyes, Governor of the State of Nuevo Leon, 
urged his selection as Vice-President, and the mere fact 
of his being suggested as a candidate caused sufficient 
friction to bring about his retirement from office. 

Briefly, then, the Diaz government was charged with 
abuse of power, with unduly favoring foreign capital, 
with permitting the " Cientificos " to enrich themselves 
either directly from the public treasury or indirectly 
through participation in profits arising from conces- 
sions, with using the Pederal and State political machin- 
ery to protect and enrich the large landowners, and in 
its efforts to perpetuate itself with defiance of public 
opinion. In many cases the critics did not fully under- 
stand the economic conditions responsible for things of 
which they complained, and in others the ills were 
doubtless greatly exaggerated. Nevertheless, there is 
no question but that there was much abuse of power, 
and that, at the bottom of it all, there was much reason 
for the belief and feeling that the mass of people was 
making little progress under the system. A hundred 



agkaria:^ a]^d other problems 129 

years earlier Don Manuel Abad j Queipo, subsequently 
bishop of Michoacan, addressed a petition to the Re- 
gency, in which he said : " This great mass of inhabit- 
ants has practically no property, and the great majority 
are homeless; truly they are in an abject and miserable 
condition, and destitute of morality and the rules of life. 
What can be the result of a revolution, given this hetero- 
geneousness of class, this class of interests and passions ? 
Naturally, nothing but reciprocal destruction, the laying 
waste of the whole country. . . . The Spanish, Euro- 
peans and Spanish Americans make up two-tenths of the 
whole population. They are the rulers and the property 
owners throughout these dominions. If in these coun- 
tries, so constituted, public order should be disturbed, 
then a frightful state of anarchy must follow." These 
lines, written in 1810, might have been written for a 
century later. 



CHAPTER XIV 
MADEKO 

It is essential, even at the expense of some repetition, 
to very briefly outline political and social history in 
Mexico up to this point. Emerging from barbarism, 
the Aztecs had reached a certain degree of civilization, 
tainted by human sacrifices and other degrading fea- 
tures, but on the whole indicating an ability to develop 
socially and politically. While no alphabet had been 
devised, picture writing had been developed to a high 
degree. A massive and substantial system of architec- 
ture showed great capacity along this line, and, while 
judged by modern standards, astronomy as a science had 
only had a limited development, astronomical observa- 
tions and calculations had been made with a surprising 
degree of accuracy. Politically the people were still in 
the tribal state, but one tribe dominated a wide extent of 
territory, and while the political system was defective 
through its development along tribal rather than along 
national lines, nevertheless a beginning had been made 
in government on a wider scope than that of purely 
tribal rule. The power and extent of this rule have 
been, at times, greatly exaggerated, while some writers 
have been inclined to minimize the achievements of the 
people, contending that their life could not be called civ- 
ilization. One thing is, however, clear, — that the early 
Mexican people were thousands of miles removed from 
any other people, and consequently not affected by any 
other civilization. Such advances as they made were 

130 



MADERO 131 

purely their own, and their emergence from a state of 
barbarism and their accomplishments in the beginnings 
of a civilization were no less interesting nor less rapid 
than with other primitive peoples. In other words, they 
had demonstrated an ability to develop. Their civiliza- 
tion was swept away by the Spanish conquest, and noth^ 
ing was given them in return save the formulas of reli- 
gion. They remained in a state of slavery, entirely 
neglected, for three hundred years. Independence from 
Spanish rule did not materially alter their condition, 
for, as a people, they were dominated by a ruling class, 
largely of Spanish origin. Forty years of misrule 
under various dictators was followed by some effort at 
national progress, which, again, was upset by several 
years of French occupation. National bankruptcy and 
chaotic conditions succeeded, giving no opportunity for 
progress. Then came a strong military dictatorship, 
gradually transforming into an oligarchy, under which 
there was railway development, considerable industrial 
growth and some advance in popular education, without, 
however, any advance in political thought or in the 
material condition of the mass of the people. 

The National capital, both as the seat of government 
and as the place of residence of many rich landholders, 
was very strongly conservative and contented with the 
existing order of things. The South, especially in the 
tropical part and with the exception of the Oaxaca re- 
gion, was indifferent. Central Mexico and the Gulf 
Coast, depending largely on the capital, was generally 
conservative. The Pacific coast region was of compara- 
tively small importance. The North, somewhat isolated 
from the capital, was for many reasons more liberal in 
its tendencies. The North was a grazing country, with 
a wider range of view. It was, moreover, more closely 
in touch with the civilization of the United States. 



132 MEXICO TO-DAY AI^D TO-MOKROW 

Mexicans slipped across the border, worked for higher 
wages than they ever had dreamed of, came in contact 
with people who considered schooling the first essential 
in life, saw the opportunities afforded to all to get along 
in the world, and, in general, absorbed many of the ideas 
of their Northern neighbors. Moreover, the geographi- 
cal distance and the difference in economic questions 
had so isolated the ]^orth from touch with the capital 
that, in large measure, the governors and other political 
officials were far more independent than those in Central 
and Southern Mexico. This independence had, in some 
cases, resulted in a broadening of political views, and in 
others in carrying the abuse of power to great excesses. 
It was natural, therefore, that the first rumblings of 
discontent should have come from the ]^orth. 

The Centennial Celebration of the independence of 
Mexico was held in Mexico City in 1910, and many 
foreign nations sent special representatives to partici- 
pate in the affair. Mexico City was at its best, and a 
series of beautiful entertainments, culminating in a 
wonderful ball at the National Palace, fairly charmed 
all the visitors. General Diaz, in spite of his 82 years, 
was all-powerful. The government was strong, there 
was peace in the land, mining and other industries were 
prosperous, national credit, at home and abroad, was at 
its highest. To the visitor, seeing the display of pomp 
and power, it looked as if Mexico was well started on a 
career of great prosperity. The idea of any opposition 
to the Diaz government was laughed at, and Francisco 
Madera's attempt to hold an opposition convention was 
considered the act of a fanatic. Madero was impris- 
oned at San Luis Potosi on June 3 on the charge of sedi- 
tion and held four months, when he escaped and, dis- 
guised as a peon, made his way to San Antonio. The 
year finished quietly, with not a ripple on the surface. 



MADEEO 133 

Madero, a member of a rich family having great 
properties in Nuevo Leon and Coahuila, had been stung 
to the quick by his treatment, and spent several weeks 
in San Antonio preparing for military operations 
against the government. Having assurances of some 
active support, he crossed into Mexico on November 10, 
and within two months he had a large following, includ- 
ing independent forces organized by Orozco, Blanco and 
Villa. Early in February of 1911 Abraham Gonzalez, 
governor of the State of Chihuahua, cast his lot with the 
revolutionists, joining them with the state troops. The 
whole North was soon in an uproar. The revolutionists, 
starting at first with a sort of guerilla warfare, grad- 
ually became better organized and were able to conduct 
a regular campaign. Events moved forward with amaz- 
ing rapidity in M,arch and April. The government, at 
first incredulous, became apprehensive, then panicky. 
The revolutionist troops, largely recruited from the 
rancher and cowboy class, could move light cavalry about 
with great swiftness, capture a town and garrison, secure 
provisions and munitions, and be gone before any body- 
of troops could be moved to intercept them. The regu- 
lar Federal troops in the North were unable to control 
the situation, and the garrisons of large cities were sent 
to reenforce them. Rumors of what was happening in 
the North swept over the country, and in an incredibly 
short time Maderista bands began to spring up in every 
section. The government had an army of only 25,000 
men, — a force which, for years, had been sufficient to 
preserve order, — and, in the face of general movement 
it was unable to cope with the situation. Stories of 
battles for liberty being fought in the North traveled 
from town to village and from village to town. There 
were vague promises of liberty, of land for all, of free- 
dom from oppression. The tiny spark had become a 



134 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEROW 

blaze, then a conflagration. With garrisons withdrawn, 
the lower classes rose against those whom they consid- 
ered their immediate oppressors. Excesses of all sorts 
followed. A single instance, the story of Gabriel Her- 
nandez, is typical of what happened all over the country. 
Hernandez, an Indian lad 24 years of age, started 
with three men at the village of Chignahuapan, in 'the 
State of Pnebla, to raise a Maderista band. Within a 
few days he had picked up fifteen or twenty men from 
neighboring villages and had obtained horses and arms 
from sympathizers. It was an easy matter to take pos- 
session of several small towns and villages, and in each 
more recruits were obtained, and farmers were induced 
to contribute horses " for the cause." The band, all 
mounted and now numbering a hundred men or more, 
took the town of Zacatlan, a place of considerable im- 
portance, then occupied Xico, and then Hianchinango, 
the county seat. The Hanchinango jail contained many 
men arrested for political offenses, and a number of 
people held for minor offenses. One man, held for a 
cold-blooded murder, every one agreed was a bad case, 
and Hernandez had him lined up against a wall and shot, 
the fifteen-year-old son of the murderer's victim being 
given a rifle to do the shooting. All the other prisoners 
were turned loose. With supplies, more recruits and 
more arms obtained in Hanchinango, the band moved 
up on the table land and occupied the important town of 
Tulancingo, the garrison there being too small to offer 
resistance. By this time Hernandez had some three 
hundred followers, mostly mounted, with a motley col- 
lection of arms — revolvers, a dozen makes of rifles, 
shotguns, etc. There were no uniforms, barring khaki 
suits worn by three or four officers, but Hernandez was 
a born leader, maintained rigid discipline, and he soon 
had his force in shape to advance against Pachuca, a 



MADEEO 135 

mining center of 50,000 inhabitants, and he made no 
secret of the fact that he intended to take the city. 

Events in the capital and elsewhere in the country had, 
in the meantime, been moving very rapidly. Madero 
had attacked and taken the city of Juarez, across the 
Rio Grande from El Paso, the most important Mexican 
town on the border. Maderista bands were springing 
up everywhere. The Diaz machine, of a personal char- 
acter, was crumbling. The cabinet in the capital was 
in almost continuous session, and the messages it re- 
ceived from all parts of the country were of the most 
discouraging nature — towns taken, small garrisons go- 
ing over to the revolutionists, a Maderista movement 
everywhere. General Diaz, feeling the hopelessness of 
the situation, decided to resign in order to prevent fur- 
ther bloodshed and disorder. Orders were sent to sev- 
eral of the governors, including the governor at Pachuca, 
to offer no further resistance to the Maderistas. The 
Pachuca governor, hearing that Maderistas were to ad- 
vance on Pachuca, thought the easiest way to avoid 
trouble would be to disband such troops as he had, and 
these were accordingly paid off, leaving only a few police 
to preserve order in the city. The Maderistas, however, 
did not appear in the afternoon, as expected, but every 
one knew that the Federal authorities had given up any 
efforts at resistance, and, as the city was strongly Ma- 
derista, an impromptu jollification started when some 
boys went through the main streets shouting " Viva 
Madero ! " The jollification soon turned into an up- 
roar, and the uproar into a general riot. The vicious 
element, realizing that there were no forces to restrain 
them, cut telegraph and telephone wires and seized the 
railway station to prevent any conununication with 
Mexico City, and then began pillaging and looting 
shops. The celebration started about five o'clock in the 



136 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

afternoon. By nine o'clock all the downtown shops had 
been stripped, the jails had been opened and all pris- 
oners turned loose, government buildings were in flames, 
and a night of terror had set in. In the middle of the 
evening a general raid was made on the cantinas, or 
saloons, and, inflamed with liquor, the mob soon attacked 
the ofiices of the large mining companies. The largest 
of the mining companies had offices in a building erected, 
in the sixteenth century, for use as the Spanish gov- 
ernor's palace, and the place was practically mob-proof. 
Here the majority of the foreigners, men, women, and 
children, mostly American, spent an anxious night. 
The looters, in cutting telephone and telegraph lines, 
had overlooked a telephone circuit coming in on the 
high tension lines which supply Pachuca and Mexico 
City with hydroelectric power from Necaxa. Over this 
circuit word was sent to the capital of the state of af- 
fairs. Practically all troops in Mexico City had been 
sent North. There was imminent danger that there 
might be an outbreak in the capital at any moment, and 
the authorities could not spare any considerable force 
to go to the relief of Pachuca. The power company, 
in the middle of the night, telephoned one of its trans- 
mission line stations, located about eight miles from 
Tulancingo, and dispatched a rider on horseback to no- 
tify Hernandez, who, with his forces, was in that tovTn, 
to hurry into Pachuca. 

Hernandez, who was already in possession of the sta- 
tion and a portion of the rolling stock of the Pachuca- 
Tulancingo railway, soon had a force of some two hun- 
dred men, with their horses, on board a special train 
which hurried forward to Pachuca. The force was de- 
trained in the outskirts of the cit}^, and at seven o'clock 
in the morning the cavalry clattered into the center of 
the town. Everything was in the wildest disorder — 



MADEEO ISY 

drunken pelados, burning buildings, window fronts 
smashed in, remnants of discarded loot scattered in the 
streets, every sign of a riotous debauch. With the ar- 
rival of the troops the looters hurried out of sight. 
Hernandez sent three squads of men to cover the city, 
while he himself conducted an inquiry in the public 
square. The blame for the starting of systematic loot- 
ing was definitely fastened on one man, who was lined 
up against a wall in the plaza and shot. One of Her- 
nandez' squads, headed by a strapping Swede, found 
looters drilling into the sides of the vault of the Bank of 
Hidalgo. The looters had tried unsuccessfully to force 
the vault doors with dynamite, and were now planning 
to drill in on the sides and blow the whole front out. 
The Swede shot the two men on the spot, their blood 
spattering on the vault doors. Hernandez passed the 
word around that all loot must be brought to the main 
p^aza, and that any one caught with loot after six hours 
would be summarily shot. Soon the plaza was filled 
with a weird collection of stuff — sewing machines, dry 
goods, groceries, fruits, gramophones, saddles, hats, 
hardware, wines, in fact, every conceivable sort of mer- 
chandise, — and a hundred or more merchants were paw- 
ing over the piles trying to identify their wares. The 
vicious element in the country roundabout, hearing of 
anarchy, began to pour in, and, on finding the town un- 
der rigid military rule, declared they were Maderistas 
who came to join the cause. Hernandez was in none 
too strong a position, but feared to enlist the motley mob 
with his troops. He accepted the recruits, however, as 
fast as they came, disarmed them and put them at work 
giving the city a much needed cleaning, in which way, 
he said, they could best serve the cause! The former 
Federal troops were reenlisted as Maderistas, the old 
rurales were reengaged, armed companies were sent out 



138 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORKOW 

to scour the country for bandits, and, in a remarkably 
short space of time, peace and order were restored in 
the region. Hernandez, starting a month before at a 
country village with three men, was a general at the 
head of a force of two thousand mounted men and a 
thousand foot, controlled the Northern half of the State 
of Puebla and held the whole of the state of Hidalgo. 
His career, so brilliantly started, came to an end during 
the Huerta regime. He was arrested, as were many 
other Madero officers, and thrown in the penitentiary. 
General Zepeda, one of Huerta's officers, came to the 
penitentiary on March 27, 1913, and told the warden he 
wished to see Hernandez. When the latter was brought 
in Zepeda shot him dead. 

The story of Hernandez is the story of a hundred 
others. Small bands, starting over night, became com- 
panies, regiments, formidable army units, in an incred- 
ibly short space of time. Unfortunately all the leaders 
were not as clean as Hernandez. Young men who had 
nothing to lose and everything to gain jumped into posi- 
tion. Recruiting men was easy. The bands could live 
on the country, requisitioning or " borrowing " supplies, 
arms and horses. There was a novelty in the life, and 
none of the humdrum drudgery of work. From seizing 
needed supplies to taking luxuries was an easy step, and 
thousands of men who had never had as much as ten 
dollars at any one time found themselves relatively rich. 
They had horses, arms, all the food they wanted, money 
to spend — and no work. It was often hard to distin- 
guish between a Maderista and a plain bandit. Scores 
of bands, calling themselves revolutionists, were nothing 
more than bands organized for looting purposes. They 
operated with the revolutionary forces as far as it suited 
them. Classed as supporters of the cause, no one was 
likely to call them to account for excesses except the old 



MADEKO 139. 

governiDent, to them a symbol of oppression. They 
could, with the revolutionists, make common cause 
against the old regime. The leaders of the revolution 
were glad to get any and all the support they could, and 
they could not be too particular. As General Obregon 
said, a couple of years later, " When you are in a revo- 
lutionary fight you cannot stop to ask the antecedents 
of a man who offers to carry a gun for you." And so 
the movement, a real one at its base, supported partly 
by patriots, partly by adventurers, and often by the 
vicious, grew by leaps and bounds all over the country. 
The revolutionary forces, victorious in the North, headed 
southward. It was evident that nothing could stem the 
tide. General Diaz, for a third of a century a powerful 
dictator, resigned, left the capital somewhat hurriedly 
for Vera Cruz to sail for France — and to die, sur- 
rounded by a few friends in Biarritz, a few years later. 
The whole cabinet resigned. Francisco de la Barra was 
put in as provisional president with the hope that a 
compromise government could be agreed on. Madero 
entered the capital on June 8 and was given an enthu- 
siastic reception by the populace. Large numbers of 
Federal troops came over voluntarily to the Madero 
cause, opposition to Madero's candidacy for the presi- 
dency ceased, little by little order was restored in the 
country, and, to all appearances, troubles were over, 
and the revolution, started barely six months before, had 
completely triumphed. On October 2 Madero was duly 
elected president. 



CHAPTER XV 

BUEKTA 

Madeeo, however, was not to have a peaceful time of 
it. Felix Diaz, a nephew of General Diaz, an army 
man and for several years chief of police in Mexico 
City, had a considerable army following and planned a 
revolt to turn the government over to the reactionary 
party. He secured the support of some of the troops 
stationed at Vera Cruz, and by a coup seized that im- 
portant port ten days after Madero's election as Presi- 
dent. New troops were sent to Vera Cruz, and within 
a week Diaz was made a prisoner, being, however, sub- 
sequently released. The following three months passed 
without special incident, but on February 8, 1913, part 
of the troops in Mexico City, led by General Reyes and 
Pelix Diaz, revolted and seized the National Palace. 
The next ten days are called, in Mexico, the " decena 
tragica," or tragic ten days. There was constant fight- 
ing in the streets. General Huerta, one of the old reg- 
ular army, had pledged his loyalty to Madero, and, with 
his troops, recaptured the National Palace and one or 
two points of strategic value. During the attack on the 
palace General Eeyes was killed. Diaz seized the ar- 
senal. There followed, then, not only more or less con- 
tinuous street fighting, but a bombardment, over the 
most thickly populated portion of the city, of the impor- 
tant points held by the opposing forces. In a zone a 
couple of miles long by half a mile wide stray shells 
killed many people, including one American lady, and 

140 



HUEETA 141 

did mucli damage to property. Attempts were made by 
the American Amibassador and others to arrange an 
armistice, but fighting continued. The upheaval in 
Mexico was soon followed by trouble elsewhere. Out- 
breaks occurred in liuevo Leon and Tamaulipas, Diaz 
adherents seized Matamoras, a new revolutionary move- 
ment started in Chihuahua, where Emilio Vasquez 
Gomez proclaimed himself as provisional president of 
Mexico, and Orozco, one of the original revolutionary 
leaders, seized the city of ISTuevo Laredo, opposite La- 
redo, Texas. Huerta and Diaz, through the mediation 
of mutual friends, reached some sort of an agreement, 
and on February 18th fighting in the city ceased 
abruptly, and, simultaneously. General Blanco, one of 
Huerta's officers, placed Madero and Pino Suarez, the 
Vice-President, under arrest on a series of charges of 
misuse of their offices. On the day following Huerta 
was nominated for president by a provisional congress, 
the positions of president and vice-president being de- 
clared vacant through incapacity due to the arrest of the 
incumbents. To preserve the form of legality Huerta 
was placed in the cabinet, and, through the resignation 
of the acting president he succeeded to the office. The 
same day Gustavo Madero, a brother of the President, 
was called out of a down town restaurant, taken to the 
arsenal and killed by Huerta adherents. The authori- 
ties gave assurances that Madero and Suarez should have 
a fair trial, and on the twenty-second they were sent to 
the penitentiary for " safe keeping." Beyond the fact 
that they were assassinated, just what happened has 
never been definitely known. It is claimed that, on 
arrival at the penitentiary, they were placed against a 
wall and executed by the mounted escort. The Huerta 
party claimed that the escort was attacked en route by 
soldiers who thought the prisoners were being helped to 



142 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOREOW 

escape, and that in the melee the prisoners were acci- 
dentallj shot. This story was never believed. There 
appears to be little doubt but that the affair was a delib- 
erate assassination with a view toward ending, for all 
time, the Madero government. There are half a dozen 
versions of the affair in Mexico, with variations as to 
the names of those in the conspiracy, and, of course, 
each version is based on positive information. The 
Madero party believes Huerta was the prime mover in 
the affair, but Huerta's friends, and a good many un- 
biased people, believe certain other reactionaries were 
responsible. 

Madero was too much of an idealist to succeed. Some 
of his acts only added confusion to a complicated situa- 
tion. He undertook, for instance, to immediately carry 
out a political promise of free land for all. Estates 
belonging to rich cientificos in the ISTorth were seized and 
allotments made to the Indians. The peon, with no 
definite idea of what to do with a piece of land, sought 
to get immediate results by selling his allotment to any 
speculator who would buy it, even if he could only realize 
fifteen or twenty pesos in the transaction. In many 
cases, unable to find a buyer, he would offer the land to 
the former owner if only he could have promise of work. 
Two days after Madero's triumphal entry into the cap- 
ital the word, or rumor, passed around that there would 
be a distribution of land at the JSTational Palace on the 
following morning. Thousands of the peon class 
swarmed to the palace the next day, and bitterly disap- 
pointed when they found there was no land to be had, 
they almost mobbed Madero's residence. The whole 
land distribution scheme, so far as it was carried out, 
was a dismal failure, satisfied nobody, and only made 
bitter enemies of the land holding class. In govern- 
ment administration and organization Madero was weak. 



HUERTA 143 

Personally honest, he was easily taken in by friends and 
supporters, and his government had hardly been estab- 
lished before there were stories of scandal and graft. 
Government credit, which had been high, was seriously 
affected. The government, which had for some years 
been accumulating a surplus, had a heavy deficit every 
month, and in nine months the cash holdings in the 
National Treasury dropped from seventy-five million 
pesos to nothing. There were, of course, more military 
expenses than usual, and these, combined with waste and 
inefficiency, brought about a serious financial situation 
which the government took no measures to meet. No 
definite policy marked the acts of the administration. 
Spasmodic and effervescent efforts were made at re- 
forms of practical or illusory character, but there was 
nothing in the way of a clear program such as is particu- 
larly necessary to bring order out of chaos. 

The murder of Madero and Suarez caused a wave of 
indignation to sweep over the country, and a storm of 
protest broke forth in the United States, which declined 
to recognize Huerta. The foreigners resident in Mex- 
ico, while deploring the killing of Madero and Suarez, 
saw in Huerta the chance of reestablishment of a normal 
order of things. They had seen a condition bordering 
on anarchy in the last days of the Diaz administration, 
due to the progress of the revolution. There had been 
weeks during which every one half expected things to 
" blow up." There was no telling when the capital 
might pass into the control of a mob. People slept with 
revolvers under their pillows and rifles standing at their 
bedsides. The old government, its authority vanishing, 
seemed helpless. The incoming government had not yet 
demonstrated its ability to govern. With eighty per 
cent, of the population illiterate or ignorant, or both, 
there was no telling what might happen. The crisis 



144 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

had passed, and Madero had been installed as president, 
but bis government had not been of a character to inspire 
confidence. Every one was pessimistic, and the foreign 
population, in particular, had suffered from an attack 
of nerves for a year. Eor weeks at a time wild rumors 
had followed each other so fast that there was no time to 
find out what the real situation was. Outbreaks in dif- 
ferent parts of the country had threatened to become 
general. There were many bands of brigands, and 
travel was insecure. Under these conditions the foreign 
population and the wealthy class of Mexicans felt that 
a strong man was needed, and that nothing but a rule of 
iron would put things in order. Huerta was known as 
a strong man, and it was believed that he had the best 
chance of success. American, British and French con- 
cerns doing business in Mexico sent appeals to their 
home offices, and the State Department in Washington 
and the Eoreign Offices in London and Paris were bom- 
barded with requests that Huerta be recognized and 
given any support necessary to restore order. The 
Washington administration, in spite of recommenda- 
tions of the American ambassador, steadfastly refused 
to recognize Huerta, the President taking the ground 
that the United States could not be a party to assassina- 
tion and usurpation of office. 

The statement has been repeatedly made, during the 
past five years, that if the United States had supported 
Huerta, by giving him formal recognition, all the sub- 
sequent troubles in Mexico would have been avoided. 
Such an impression is very strong in England, and also 
prevails with the majority of Americans having interests 
in Mexico. The majority of Americans resident in 
Mexico are of this opinion. Even many Mexicans have 
assumed that if Huerta had received the moral backing 
of the United States opposition would have ended, and 



HUEETA 145 

political, social and industrial affairs would have gone 
on as before. A careful examination of the situation 
does not seem to justify this view. Those on the ground 
who support this theory start off with the assumption 
that the Mexican people know nothing of self-govern- 
ment, and will, consequently, accept any authority that 
is supported by arms. They do not believe that the 
force of public opinion amounts to anything in Mexico. 
They feel that the peon class is too ignorant to count 
politically, that the middle class is entirely indifferent, 
and that it essentially devolves on the property owning 
class to do the governing. In these views they are quite 
sincere — even many patriotic Mexicans who have high 
ideals. It is true that for centuries the Mexican people 
took, uncomplainingly, any form of government given 
them. It is also true that, politically, the peon class 
is incompetent to take part in a governing scheme. It 
is equally true that the middle class has, for many years, 
been indifferent to government affairs, regarding politics 
as a matter of factional squabbles over power and 
spoils. It does not follow, however, that a representa- 
tive of the reactionary party could have made a success 
of governing the country. The whole of Northern Mex- 
ico was imbued with liberal ideas, and this spirit had 
seeped through the whole social structure of the coun- 
try. Some of the ideas were, to be sure, too extreme 
to be practical ; some of them were crude and ill-suited 
to the country's economic and social conditions ; and 
some were so fantastic as to be ridiculous. The whole 
program of liberty was a vague one. Nevertheless, the 
fact remained that a revolution, based on liberal ideas, 
had taken place, and that it had been successful in so 
far as overthrowing an autocratic form of government 
was concerned. Lacking previous political preparation, 
the liberal scheme had not demonstrated its ability to 



146 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

manage the affairs of the country, but this did not mean 
that the liberal sentiment was crushed, or that it would 
accept without protest a return to conditions against 
which it had rebelled. The middle class, small as it 
was, had developed in political thought, and, as opposed 
to an aristocratic class, it could always count on the 
great mass of people for support. Huerta, with the 
moral and military support of the United States, could, 
in a short time, have controlled the country, but Huerta, 
backed solely by moral support, would have had a very 
hard time of it. It is doubtless true that the refusal of 
the United States to give him recognition helped, 
through giving his enemies encouragement, to precipi- 
tate matters. 

It is hardly probable, however, that a new outbreak 
would have been long postponed. The fact cannot be 
overlooked that, throughout the country, there had been 
an insistent demand for a change: a demand made by 
people having no political organization, no military sup- 
port, and no voice in government affairs ; nevertheless, a 
demand so strong as to have formed the base for a suc- 
cessful revolution. Making all due allowance for per- 
sonal equations, ambition, gTced, cupidity and igno- 
rance, the movement had moral force back of it, and 
this force, sooner or later, would have asserted itself. 
To be sure, if Huerta had continued in power and made 
drastic reforms he doubtless would have met with suc- 
cess, but his associations and the manner of his coming 
into power gave no promise of a liberal scheme, but 
rather fixed him, in the public mind, as an advocate of 
strong reactionary rule. 

The rapidity with which opposition sprang up is good 
evidence in support of the above arg-ument. Two days 
after Madero and Suarez were killed, Huerta was de- 
nounced at Saltillo by General Venustiano Carranza, 



HUEETA 147 

one of Madero's supporters, and Carranza's attitude was 
soon endorsed by many leaders. Governor Gonzalez, 
of Chihuaiiua, >vlio failed to recognize Huerta, was 
placed under arrest, sent under escort to the capital but 
murdered en route. There were outbreaks in Sonora, 
ISTuevo Leon, Coahuila and Sinaloa. Within two weeks 
Carranza, supported by Jesus Carranza, Pablo Gonzalez, 
Salinas and others, had eight or ten thousand men in the 
field. In another week Alvaro Obregon, a well-to-do 
rancher and friend of Carranza, had another force in 
the field and attacked and took the town of ISTogales. 
It would be tedious to go into the details of the cam- 
paign, or series of campaigns, which followed. There 
were defeats and victories on both sides. The whole 
ISTorthern half of Mexico was the battlefield. The en- 
gagements frequently were of small importance, but 
collectively they made for the steady progress of the 
revolutionary party, now called the Constitutionalists. 
There were incidents which gave variety to the war. 
The Yaqui Indians went on the warpath on their own 
hook, and attacked both Constitutionalists and Federals. 
Zapata, who, in the state of Morelos, had started a revo- 
lution simultaneously with the start of the Madero revo- 
lution and who had, for two years, dominated the states 
of Morelos and Guerrero, at various times acted with 
the Carranzistas and at other times with the Federals. 
Pascual Orozco, one of the original Madero officers, 
operated for a time with Zapata, fell out with him and 
was executed. Francisco Villa was a Constitutionalist 
supporter but a difficult and erratic one to handle. The 
strong personal elements presented many difficulties. 
Many of the bands, as in the Madero revolution, were 
simply squads of brigands, and their excesses caused 
serious situations, particularly in cases affecting for- 
eigners. In spite of numerous troubles the Constitu- 



148 MEXICO TO-DAY AISTD TO-MOREOW 

tionalists made headway. The forces under Pablo Gon- 
zalez and Obregon were solidiiied and were able to make 
a definite oii'ensive against the Federals. 

The Washington administration had, in the meantime, 
advised all Am.ericans to leave Mexico, and large num- 
bers had left. The American government sent special 
representatives to Mexico Citv, but nothing definite re- 
sulted. Spain had given Huerta early recognition, 
and Great Britain had followed it, but Washington stood 
by its determination not to give formal recognition. 
Huerta, in addition to military opposition, was having 
no easy time of it. Dominguez, a member of the Senate, 
made a speech openly attacking him, and, when Domin- 
guez disappeared and was reported to have been assas- 
sinated, the Senate demanded an investigation. One 
hundred and ten senators were then arrested and placed 
in jail and kept there for some time. Warships were 
sent by various foreig"n governments to Mexican ports. 
Huerta, in need of funds, floated an internal loan of 
ten million pesos, a delicate hint being given to each 
large concern to subscribe a certain amount. In the 
midst of all the trouble and turmoil a picturesque fea- 
ture was added when Zapata made the announcement 
that as soon as he and his principals triumphed he would 
exclude all foreigners from the country, tear up the 
railroads, and return to primitive conditions. Felix 
Diaz tried to " start something " and had to flee from 
the country. Through the fall of 1913 and in the win- 
ter of 1914 some efforts were made by the United States 
to effect an arrangement between the opposing parties, 
but both sides were indisposed to negotiate. Carranza 
insisted throughout that he would agree to no foreign 
interference in Mexican affairs. Huerta, on his part, 
was much offended because of the failure to recognize 



HUERTA 149 

him, and felt that the American government was hostile. 
In March the Carranza forces, by this time fairly 
dominant in the North, began pushing a campaign into 
Central Mexico. An incident in Tampico, growing out 
of the arrest, by Federal officers, of some United States 
marines, brought a demand, in April, for an apology. 
Huerta apologized^ but refused to have the American 
flag saluted. An American fleet then shelled the de- 
fenses of Vera Cruz, landed forces, and on April 21, 
1914, occupied the city. There was some hard fighting 
for a short time, thirty American marines and sailors 
losing their lives, while the Mexican losses, military and 
civil, due largely to shelling a portion of the city where 
the arsenal was located, were over three hundred. The 
occupation of Vera Cruz caused intense excitement and 
much bitter feeling, especially in Mexico City. Nearly 
all American residents left for the Coast, and all be- 
lieved that armed intervention in Mexico was at hand. 
Matters dragged for some weeks, but finally a proposal 
was made that Argentine, Brazil and Chile should act 
jointly to mediate between Mexico and the United 
States, and the American and Mexican (Huerta) gov- 
ernments accepted the offer. Huerta proposed an arm- 
istice with the Carranza forces pending the result of the 
so-called A. B. C. negotiations, but the latter, while 
declaring his protests against the presence of American 
forces in Mexico, declined to have this condition used 
as a basis for the settlement of internal affairs. The 
Carranza forces were, by this time (July) making rapid 
headway. Huerta finally made up his mind that, be- 
tween internal and external troubles, his situation was 
hopeless, and on the fifteenth of July he left Mexico 
City, going to Puerto Mexico, from which port he em- 
barked with his family for Spain, on board the German 



150 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW 

cruiser Dresden (now sunk). Huerta spent a year or 
more abroad and then came to the United States, was 
arrested on the border on charges of conspiring to start 
a revolution, and died before his case came to trial. 



CHAPTER XVI 
CAKRANZA — VILLA — ZAPATA 

The Federals, on Huerta's departure, ceased serious 
opposition to the Constitutionalist cause, and within a 
month General Obregon occupied the capital. Felix 
Diaz, who had returned to the country, announced that 
he would start a new revolution. In the JSTorth Mayto- 
rena led an uprising in Sonora. Obregon and Villa, 
sent to suppress the outbreak, fell out, and Villa placed 
Obregon under arrest. Obregon managed, however, to 
escape and return to Mexico City, while Villa, after 
announcing himself as dictator of jSTorthern Mexico, 
declared war on the Constitutionalists, so that, five weeks 
after the latter had occupied Mexico City, they had a 
new revolution on their hands. Leaders in Mexico City 
called a national convention, to meet at Aguas Calientes, 
partly for the purpose of organizing a permanent govern- 
ment and partly to secure, if possible, a union of all 
parties in a new program. The convention met on Oc- 
tober eighteenth. Villa, at the head of a large force of 
light cavalry, swept down unexpectedly from the JSTorth, 
and overawed the convention, which resulted in the for- 
mation of a Villa-Zapata party called the Convention- 
alists. 

The Constitutionalists, meanwhile, had organized a 
government in the capital. One of their first acts was 
to ask the United States to withdraw its troops from 
Vera Cruz, which was evacuated by the American forces 
on November 23rd. The Belgian minister was given 

151 



152 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEROW 

his passports as the result of a communicatioii which 
offended the government. Sir Lionel Garden, the Brit- 
ish Minister, who had advocated the support of Huerta, 
left the country. The government took over the opera- 
tion of the ISTational Railways, partly for military rea- 
sons and partly, doubtless, as a source of income. At 
the same time the government took possession of the 
tramways system in Mexico City. 

The Constitutionalists, threatened by the Zapata 
forces from the South and Villa forces from the North, 
decided to evacuate Mexico City, and withdrew on No- 
vember twenty-fifth, going to Vera Cruz, which then 
became their headquarters. A serio-comic incident con- 
nected with the evacuation was that General Obregon, 
wishing to embarrass the Villa-Zapata combination as 
much as possible, and also to cut off a source of revenue, 
took the controller boxes off from all the street cars, 
and shipped them to Vera Cruz, completely tying up the 
operation of the street railway system. 

Mexico City, during the next two months, witnessed 
a series of political and military shifts probably never 
equaled in history. Zapata occupied the city on No- 
vember twenty-fifth, his army marching in from the 
south as Obregon withdrew his troops at the northern 
end of the city. The Zapata forces consisted of recruits 
from the farming class in the State of Morelos. Few 
of his soldiers had ever been in a large city before. 
They were people of the most primitive type, who, for 
four years, had been carrying on a bandit warfare in 
Morelos. They had looted every large hacienda in 
the state, where Zapata, a wild and picturesque dictator, 
had held complete sway. They had declared open en- 
mity against the railroads, and had wrecked train after 
train between Mexico City and Guernavaca, killing 
scores of passengers. They had been responsible for 



CAKKANZA — VILLA — ZAPATA 153 

so much looting and slaughter that their advance on the 
city and the withdrawal of the Constitutionalist troops 
threw the public in the wildest sort of panic. Every 
one wanted to flee, but there were no transportation fa- 
cilities. ' Service on the Vera Cruz line was interrupted, 
and Obregon had taken the rolling stock of the Pachuca 
line to move his troops. Many of the private auto- 
mobiles had been commandeered, or simply taken, by 
the military. Besides, the shift had come so quickly 
that there was no time to leave, and, before the majority 
of people realized what was happening, the Zapatistas 
were in full occupation of the city. Much of the terror 
produced by the mere mention of the Zapatistas proved 
to have been groundless. There was much less violence 
and disorder than had been expected; in fact, the city 
was rather more orderly than it had been. The Zapa- 
tistas were seemingly more or less overawed by their 
surroundings, and, on the whole, behaved themselves 
fairly well. There was no looting of shops or private 
houses, and such automobiles as remained in the city 
were not molested, few of the " Zaps " understanding 
anything of the intricacies of the insides of a motor 
car. Horses were legitimate loot. One wealthy Mex- 
ican, a great polo player, saved his string of polo ponies 
by quartering them in a small dwelling house adjoining 
his own property, supplying them for weeks with food 
from a temporary entrance, concealed by shrubbery, 
cut through the wall into his own yard. The '' Zaps " 
felt that anything found in government property was 
fair spoil, and their fancy usually ran to showy odds 
and ends — bits of brocade, strips of enameled leather 
cut from heavy chairs, bronze or brass electric light 
fixtures, gilded picture frames, cut glass chandeliers, 
and the like. There were many incongruities, with 
barefooted soldiers in pajama-like cotton suits standing 



154 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

guard in tlie gorgeously furnished reception rooms in 
the elaborate government department buildings, and 
picturesque officers amusing themselves by riding up 
and down elevators in office buildings. Thinking it 
was some new type of war machine, a squad of soldiers 
opened fire on a fire engine responding to a call, and 
killed several of the crew. The shelves of the JSTational 
Library were stripped of half their books, to be sold 
to second-hand bookstalls for what they would bring. 
Elaborate silk and brocade hangings were cut from the 
walls of the I^ational Palace and sold to dealers in an- 
tiques. The general hostility to foreigners was evi- 
denced in the complete wreckage of furniture and fur- 
nishings at the Country Club, just outside the city, 
which was used as Zapatista headquarters before entry 
into the city. 

The first shock of the Zapatista occupation over, 
people settled down to make the best of matters. Ten 
days later Villa entered the city with a large force 
and was soon wrangling with Zapata over the latter's 
suggestion that Emilio Vasquez Gomez should be 
named President. The Zapata forces, withdrawn from 
the city the first of December to engage the Con- 
stitutionalists, met with defeats toward the end of the 
month, and on January nineteenth Villa, having in- 
sufficient forces to hold the city against the advancing 
Constitutionalist army, abandoned the capital. In the 
meanwhile Gutierrez, installed as provisional president 
by a combination of different elements in the city, in- 
cluding Villa, had refused to be Villa's tool and had 
had to flee, being succeeded by Eoque Gonzalez Garza. 
The latter now attempted to reach some arrangement 
with Carranza, but, the negotiations failing, he left the 
city, Obregon, with the Constitutionalist troops, reenter- 
ing on January twenty-eighth. The next few weeks 



CAEKANZA — VILLA — ZAPATA 155 

passed without special event in the capital, but there 
was much fighting all over the country, especially in the 
North. General Jesus Carranza, one of the original 
supporters of the Constitutionalists, was, with his son, 
betrayed into the hands of the Villistas, and father and 
son were executed. Gabriel Salinas, one of those re- 
sponsible for his death, was later captured and executed. 
Villa proclaimed himself dictator for all of Mexico, 
and, with a large force supporting him, he threatened 
to malse his claim good. Obregon, needing all his 
troops for the North, and threatened from the South 
by the Zapatistas, on March eleventh, again evacuated 
Mexico City, the " Zaps " marching in and assuming 
control of affairs. The seat of government continued 
to be in Vera Cruz, from which point General Carranza 
directed the campaign. The Constitutionalist armies, 
led by Obregon, Gonzales and Trevino, had the great 
advantage that they were acting in a common cause and 
were loyal to one chief, while their opponents, Villistas, 
Zapatistas and other " istas " were running more or less 
individual affairs and unlikely to act in unison. The 
campaign was pushed through the Spring and early 
Summer of 1915. Obregon, operating in the JSTorth, 
defeated Villa forces in many skirmishes and some 
heavy fighting, Trevino dislodged Villa troops from im- 
portant points in Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, and 
Gonzalez, by a long series of operations, secured control 
of all the territory surrounding Mexico City. On July 
tenth the Zapatistas evacuated the city, and the Consti- 
tutionalists again took possession. 

Affairs in the capital had been going from bad to 
worse. Business was suspended and factories closed; 
no work was to be had ; thousands of people had starved 
to death; there were epidemics; governments had suc- 
ceeded governments so rapidly that people were dazed; 



156 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORKOW 

the wildest rumors were current every day ; each faction 
had celebrated its days of control by executions of peo- 
ple accused of treason, conspiracy or sedition; railway 
service had been interrupted, for weeks at a time; even 
the richest people had had a bad time of it, having to 
sacrifice jewels and other possessions to obtain funds 
with which to buy food ; most of the foreigners had left ; 
travel by motor car or to outlying towns had been peril- 
ous, frequently involving going through the lines of 
opposing factions: in fact, life itself had been very 
uncertain. 

With such conditions prevailing in the city, and gen- 
eral uncertainty as to the ultimate outcome of affairs, 
the situation in rural districts was even worse. The 
general disorder had largely stopped or cut down agri- 
cultural pursuits. Food was scarce, and labor could 
find no work. The man with a gun could take food 
away from the man who had no gun. In a considerable 
degree brigandage was a natural consequence of the 
state of affairs. Many joined bands purely as a mat- 
ter of existence. A band strong enough to overcome 
the ordinary force at a ranch or hacienda could at least 
obtain a supply of corn. In the absence of any estab- 
lished government, it was an easy matter to kill if any 
resistance were offered, as there was no danger of re- 
tributive justice. In various sections the strongest of 
the bands dominated, levied tribute on towns and vil- 
lages, and ran affairs with a high hand. All the bands 
called themselves something or other, sometimes Con- 
stitutionalists, sometimes Villistas, sometimes Zapatis- 
tas, more often after the name of some local leader. A 
force of some three hundred men, calling themselves 
liberalists, surrounded the Suchi Lumber Company's 
property in the State of Mexico and demanded ten thou- 
sand pesos " for the cause." The written demand said 



CARRAE^ZA — VILLA — ZAPATA 157 

that they came as friends, but that, in the event of re- 
fusal, thej would come into the camp with sword and 
firebrand, and the signature of the " general " com- 
manding was followed by the words " Liberty, Consti- 
tution and Justice ! " Many towns in the rural districts 
had had more changes in administration than the cap- 
ital, and each change usually involved some new levy of 
taxes. Even with the organized movements there was 
little or no effort made to gather taxes systematically. 
Local leaders raised what they could to provision their 
forces. This naturally resulted in great abuses, as 
many unscrupulous officers took advantage of the situa- 
tion to gTaft right and left. Leaders who had a strong 
following did not stop at petty grafting. They seized 
whole estates and appropriated all the proceeds from the 
sale of products. It is no exaggeration to say that half 
the large haciendas — farms, ranches or rural estates 
— were, at one time or another, operated by people who 
had no possible claim to them. The Constitutionalists, 
as a government, set a bad example. Properties be- 
longing to " Cientificos " were liable to denouncement 
and subject to public administration, doubtless on the 
theory that they represented ill-gotten wealth of public 
enemies. The government " intervened " in these prop- 
erties and leased them, frequently at purely nominal fig- 
ures. Buildings and presses belonging to newspapers 
of " Cientifico " tendencies were " intervened " and 
loaned to men who would run newspapers friendly to 
the government. Private residences, rural estates and 
office buildings were taken over by the score. The 
government did not claim ownership of such proper- 
ties, but only that of administration until their status 
should be determined by legal procedure. The number 
of " intervened " properties was so large that a special 
administrator was attached to the National Treasury 



158 MEXICO TO-DAY A:N'D TO-MOREOW 

to take care of this particular work. Tlie policy of 
the government was, doubtless, partly responsible for 
the fact that many local leaders seized things " on their 
own hook " without the formality of government action. 
In some cases the owners of properties were quite satis- 
fied to have them seized by leaders with strong back- 
ing, as this was a protection against looting and wanton 
destruction. The property of foreigners was, as a rule, 
respected, and houses with American tenants were not 
likely to be disturbed. During 1915, with the Zapata- 
Villa-Obregon changes in Mexico City, a number of 
Americans were offered large city houses rent free if 
they would only occupy them. 

Abuses of this sort brought much discredit on the 
government, and made foreigners feel entirely hopeless 
about the situation. It must be remembered, however, 
that the people had never had any experience in govern- 
ment and were totally unprepared to set up a new or- 
ganization to take the place of the dictatorship they had 
overthrown. As a result chaotic conditions and excesses 
of all sorts followed the first successes. The govern- 
ment, just come into being, was not strong enough to 
control many of its own petty leaders. It had, more- 
over, to deal with a certain class of supporters^ who were 
using the cause for their own ends. It needed all the 
support it could get until it could be established on a 
sound basis, and it had to put up with all sorts of acts 
until that time could be reached. 

In the rural districts far away from the large cen- 
ters conditions were particularly bad. The majority 
of the well-to-do class moved, for safety, to the ISTational 
Capital. A rural estate or remote mining plant, threat- 
ened with a raid by bandits, had no one to call on for 
help. A few American mining men in these remote 



CAEKANZA — VILLA — ZAPATA 159 

camps stuck it out a long time, and their lives, day after 
day, were full of excitement and adventure. 

The simple tale of a little American girl of eight, 
overheard as she told it to a friend a year later, gives 
an idea of what was involved in trying to keep going 
under difficult conditions. " One day a lot of bandits 
rode into the camp," she said. " Mama and I were 
alone in the house and when they came up mama 
gave them something to eat, and they went away. Then 
they came back and got papa at his office, and took him 
away with them, and mama was terribly scared. 
They wanted a lot of money to let papa go, and we 
didn't have any, only a very little. They took papa to 
the hills but after a while he got away and came back 
all right. Then some other bandits came later, and 
they were going to kill everybody. We had two mozos 
(servants) who knew where there were some big caves 
we could hide in, and we went to these caves and stayed 
there. I think we were there three weeks. The mozos 
went into camp each night and brought us food. My 
pony got away from the cave and I was afraid the 
bandits had him. Well, after a while the bandits left 
that part of the country and we came back. My pony 
had come to the camp. My, I was glad to see him. 
Well, we stayed there a long time, but bandits kept 
coming and going, and papa could not send any ores 
away from the mine, so at last we came away. And 
our mozos cried when we left." 

Bandits frequently raided large towns, and some of 
the bands were large enough to carry out a raid on a 
large city. There was no telling when they might ap- 
pear. In Pachuca the mines, unable for a time to 
make shipments, accumulated a large amount of bul- 
lion. The country roundabout was full of bandits. 



160 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEROW 

The manager of one of the large mining companies, in 
fear for the bullion and knowing that any attempt to 
conceal it would be useless, buried it in a bed of con- 
crete several feet thick. If raided, he could say where 
the bullion was, and hope the process of digging it 
out would give time to secure assistance. Fortunately, 
there was no raid, but it later took the company two 
days to dig the bullion out. 

Some thirty foreigners, cooped up in Toluca in the 
fall of 1915, hearing that conditions in the capital were 
tolerable, decided to make the trip, and asked a " Zap " 
colonel to send them through on one of the military 
trains. The colonel demanded a hundred dollars in 
gold, but as the party had nothing but paper money 
he agreed to accept a check from one of the men. The 
train started, climbed the high divide which separates 
the Toluca and Mexico valleys, and had started dov^n 
the other side when the advance guard of the main 
" Zap " army was met, and it was learned that the 
" Zaps " had evacuated the city and that their retreat 
was being closely followed up by the Constitutionalists. 
The colonel in charge of the train then said he must 
take the train back, as he dared not risk losing the 
engine, so he left the foreigners at a bleak little station 
near the top of the grade and pulled out for Toluca. 
Incidentally he returned the check for a hundred dol- 
lars. The party saw a flat car on the siding and de- 
cided to chance a coasting trip on it down into the 
valley. The whole party, including six women, ac- 
cordingly boarded the flat car, released the brakes and 
started down the grade. The car got going so fast 
that those on board could not stop it, and as they shot 
around a bend they discovered, to their horror, that 
the " Zaps " were marching along and on the railroad 
track. They shot through a body of two or three thou- 



CAEKAI^ZA — VILLA — ZAPATA 161 

sand men, troops on the track scrambling off just in 
time, miraculously going through without a scratch. 
When the " Zaps " recovered from the surprise of the 
wild car plunging down hill they began firing at it, but 
no one was hurt. Farther down more troops were 
passed, and these were busy exchanging a desultory 
fire with Constitutionalist troops harassing them from 
the hillside above them. The car shot along, went 
through the straggling lines of the Carranza forces, and 
finally was brought to a stop in front of a large ha- 
cienda in the outskirts of the city. The wild ride 
was over, and the passengers, half scared to death, were 
glad to seek refuge in the hacienda, from which, later, 
they made their way into town. 

These incidents give some idea of the conditions 
people lived in. Worst of all, perhaps, was the entire 
uncertainty of things. People who had stuck through 
it for months would, finally, on the strength of some 
new rumor, decide to leave the country. The control 
of any one party rarely extended over a zone long 
enough to permit any through railway service to the 
border, but sometimes, by a combination of round- 
about routes, it was possible to get through. So a start 
would be made, only to wander around a few days in 
out-of-the-way places and then find that, since starting, 
conditions had changed and some essential section of 
the route blocked. Then a new combination would be 
tried, perhaps successfully. Railway travel was peril- 
ous. On the Vera Cruz line the Zapatistas wrecked a 
freight train and started some of the cars coasting down 
hill. The wild cars smashed into an upbound passenger 
train, which, with four hundred passengers, was thrown 
off the track and toppled over the edge, to tumble down 
a thousand feet or more into the bottom of the gorge. 
Trains, in spite of strong escorts on pilot trains ahead, 



162 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKKOW 

were repeatedly blown up with dynamite. Shooting 
at trains was common, and several times trains carry- 
ing escorts of a hundred men or more were attacked 
by bandit gangs. Travel was dangerous, and staying 
home involved living in a state of uncertainty and anx- 
iety. But in many respects life went on as usual in the 
capital. People played golf, although the country 
around the golf course was full of bandits. One golfer, 
at least, was held up on the course, and as he had no 
valuables on him the bandits took his clothes and left 
him to wander back to the clubhouse in his underwear. 
Much of the brigandage was not particularly vicious. 
The bandits needed money for food, or wanted bits of 
jewelry or other baubles. Foreigners who knew the 
language and understood the people generally came 
through safely, but real danger, plus uncertainty, put 
all nerves on edge. The worst sufferers were the 
wealthy Mexicans, who, in many cases, were stripped 
of everything they owned. 

The Zapatistas seized the Eeforma mine in the State 
of Guerrero, and coined the bullion taken from the 
smelter into silver pesos. These pieces circulated freely 
for a time until some one discovered that the coins 
carried a large percentage of gold and were worth, 
intrinsically, more than double their face value. Paper 
money of all sorts, Constitutionalist and Villista, and 
issues of half a dozen state governments, appeared and 
disappeared with changes of government. Military 
leaders at times paid for supplies with money turned 
out on typewriters — money made on the spot. Even 
in the large cities there were no courts save those of 
petty magistrates to handle criminal cases. With no 
courts, with only a partially organized government 
(which might change any day), with little or no rail- 
way service, industries closed, an epidemic of typhus, 



OAKKAITZA — VILLA — ZAPATA 163 

agriculture stopped, brigandage, military operations and 
factional fighting, conditions were desperate. In the 
rural districts the peons, failing to obtain work, flocked 
to the capital, which, with a hundred thousand or more 
refugees, was, in the worst possible shape. Altogether, 
affairs could not have been much worse. There was, 
however, no rioting. The peon class seldom voices its 
complaints if there is a show of authority. 

Toward the end of 1915 there was some improvement. 
Kailway service between the capital and Vera Cruz 
was on a fairly regular basis. The ISTational Eailway 
line from Laredo to Mexico City was again in opera- 
tion, after a more or less complete suspension for a 
year. Seizure of properties in Constitutionalist terri- 
tory ceased. Carranza, acting as provisional dictator 
under the title of First Chief, was beginning to shape 
something like a government into being. The Pan- 
American conference, " A. B. C." and the United 
States, at last gave the Constitutionalists recognition, 
and this was followed by similar action by Great Brit- 
ain and Spain. The year 1916 opened up hopefully. 
Then came serious complications. One of the large 
American mining companies decided, in view of im- 
proving conditions, to resume operations, and sent a 
train, carrying employees and supplies, into Mexico. 
The train was held up by a Villista band under Lopez 
at the station of Santa Isabel, and seventeen Americans 
were lined up and shot. Carranza deplored the inci- 
dent and sent forces to hunt down Lopez, who was cap- 
tured and, with seventeen of his band, executed. The 
incident caused great indignation in the LTnited States, 
and again demands were made on the Washington gov- 
ernment for military intervention in Mexico. The ex- 
citement caused had barely subsided when a Villa band, 
on March 9, made a raid on Columbus, N. M., killing 



164 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKROW 

many American soldiers and civilians. Additional 
American troops were immediately dispatched to the 
border, and General Pershing was ordered to go into 
Mexico and catch Villa. American troops crossed the 
line on March fifteenth, and General Pershing moved 
rapidly South in pursuit of Villa. Much friction arose 
through the presence of American troops in Mexico. 
The Carranza government had said it would give per- 
mission for American troops to chase, bandits on Mex- 
ican soil if Mexico were given reciprocal rights. Per- 
shing wished to use the Mexico JSTorthwestern Railway 
for the movement of troops and supplies, and only ob- 
tained a tardy permission, for the handling of supplies 
only. Pershing, with only a small force, and obliged 
to keep open a long line of communication in a coun- 
try which might prove to be hostile, could not surround 
Villa, who, although wounded in a skirmish, managed 
to escape to the mountains. As the troops advanced 
in Mexico the friction over their presence grew worse. 
Carranza military leaders considered the American 
force, strung out on a line a. hundred and fifty miles 
long, as a wedge driven in anticipation of a large army 
of occupation, and finally notified Pershing that any 
further advance would be met with armed resistance. 
Twice American troops were fired on, and incidents at 
Parral and Carrizal threatened to plunge the two coun- 
tries into war. State department assurances that there 
would be no intervention were not believed in Mexico, 
which began massing troops in the ISTorth. The United 
States government notified all Americans to leave Mex- 
ico. There was a general exodus, Americans leaving 
precipitately any way they could, by train, passenger 
steamers, " tramps " and transports. The American 
JSTational Guard was called out and sent to the border. 
At the end of June war seemed inevitable, but early in 



CAEEANZA — VILLA — ZAPATA 165 

July Carranza proposed a conference over border ques- 
tions, and Washington accepted the offer. In August 
the Mexican government named Luis Cabrera, Ignacio 
Bonillas and Alberto J. Pani as commissioners for the 
conference, while the United States named Secretary 
Lane, Judge Gray and John E. Mott. Sessions of the 
conference were held in New London, Conn., beginning 
early in September, and continued through the month 
there, and through the months of October and November 
at Atlantic City. In October the Mexican Commis- 
sioners asked for the withdrawal of American troops 
from Mexico as a preliminary to any discussions. This 
request was repeated at various times, the Mexican rep- 
resentatives insisting that the continuance of troops in 
Mexico was not only unnecessary and unfriendly but 
was also a very serious handicap to the government in 
internal affairs. Finally, a protocol was agreed on to 
cover the withdrawal, and also for the policing of the 
border, the protocol being signed by the Mexican Com- 
missioners subject to Carranza's approval. Senor Pani 
went to Mexico and returned shortly with the statement 
that Carranza took the position that no protocol was 
necessary for the withdrawal of troops from Mexican 
soil ; that the troops were in Mexico without Mexico's 
consent ; that Mexico had repeatedly asked to have them 
withdrawn; and, finally, that, if the United States 
wished to show its friendship by withdrawing the 
troops, it could do so without any discussion or agree- 
ment. The conference then ended, and, while nothing 
definite had been accomplished, there was a better un- 
derstanding on both sides and the way was paved for 
the establishment of more friendly relations. On Jan- 
uary 2, 1916, orders were given to General Pershing 
to withdraw his forces, and a week later Henry P. 
Fletcher, appointed ambassador some months before but 



166 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEROW 

held in Washington awaiting developments, was sent 
to his post. Shortly afterward the Mexican government 
named Mr. Bonillas as ambassador to the United 
States. 



CHAPTER XVII 
DIFFICULT CONDITIONS 

Occupied, on the one hand, with foreign complica- 
tions which promised, for some time, to involve the 
country in war, the government had been, on the other, 
beset with many very serious problems at home. The 
year 1916 had opened up with prospects of rapid im- 
provements in the political situation. There were, how- 
ever, many practical difficulties in the way. An epi- 
demic of typhus, finding easy victims in the half- 
starved population, had swept over the country in 1915 
with terrific virulence, reaching such proportions that 
the burial of the dead had, at times, been a difficult 
problem to handle. This epidemic, with the winter 
season, when people crowded together in close quarters, 
started up again, and its reappearance was enough to 
discourage the most optimistic. The government's pa- 
per money, which had held fairly steady, began, under 
the fear of foreign trouble and the uncertainties as to 
internal affairs, to decline rapidly, ending in a collapse 
which upset the whole industrial situation. A for- 
eigner going to Mexico for a month's stay in the Spring 
of 1916, found the pesos worth four cents on arrival, 
and left later with the same pesos worth two cents. 
Such a slump naturally upset all classes of business and 
all industrial disputes. The general depression in busi- 
ness, coupled with the critical state of relations with 
the United States, resulted in a general lack of confi- 
dence in the government, and this, in turn, caused more 

167 



168 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW 

declines in currency and more economic upset. Some 
idea of the conditions prevailing during the Spring can 
be gained from a summary of housekeeping expenses. 
A house which had rented a few years before for two 
hundred pesos, or one hundred dollars, still rented for 
two hundred pesos, then worth about four dollars. 
Household servants received their old wages, twenty- 
five pesos (50 cents) per month for a cook, and 40 
pesos (20 cents) for housemaids. Electric light bills 
for an average house amounted to twelve or fifteen cents, 
and water rates were less. Consequently, for six dol- 
lars a month one could have a large house, with serv- 
ants, electric light bills and water rates paid. Ten 
dollars more would buy necessary food for a good-sized 
family, so that, for fifteen or sixteen dollars one could 
maintain a fairly luxurious establishment. Imported 
articles were high in price, and some domestic manu- 
factured goods maintained a gold standard and conse- 
quently high prices. Generally, however, prices were 
ridiculously low. The old basis of tariils in vogue on 
the railways, reduced to American currency, was a joke, 
the first-class fare and Pullman ticket from Vera Cruz 
to Mexico City, a twelve-hour ride, costing one dollar; 
first-class fare alone fifty cents; and second-class fare 
thirty cents, the last at the rate of one-eighth of a cent 
per mile. The price of a shoe-shine was 25 centavos, 
or one-fourth of a peso, the latter worth two cents — 
in other words, half a cent. I'oodstuffs, however, were 
relatively high, always remaining, as articles of general 
necessity, at something like gold values. Moreover, 
disturbed conditions had cut down agricultural produc- 
tion, and part of the needed corn — the staple of the 
country — had to be imported, naturally giving corn 
a gold value. Thus, while foodstuffs had advanced 
750, 1,000 or even 2,000 per cent., Mexican currency, 



DIFFICULT CONDITION'S 169 

labor had advanced only 100, 150 or 200 per cent. 
The onlj workers who did not suffer acutely under 
these conditions were domestic servants, who, while 
their pay had not advanced, at least had shelter and 
food. Even they suffered when it came to the question 
of clothing themselves. An ordinary pair of service- 
able shoes cost a hundred pesos, or two months' wages, 
while imported shoes of the $3.50 variety sold for 250 
pesos. The average pay of some three thousand em- 
ployees of public utility companies was, in March, less 
than four pesos, or eight cents U. S. currency, per 
man. So great was the distress that in many cases 
employees begged to be paid in food rations. The con- 
ditions were almost as bad as they had been during the 
last days of the Zapata occupation, when Zapata money 
had declined almost to the vanishing point. At that 
time a corner policeman, asking a resident for a tip, 
said he hated to beg, but was obliged to because of food- 
stuff prices. 

" You know," he said, " a good sized cat sells in the 
market for 30 to 35 pesos. I get five pesos a day, so 
if I work a week I can just earn one cat." 

The El Oro mining camp, overrun several times by 
bandit gangs, had closed down, throwing seven or eight 
thousand men out of work. The cotton mills at Puebla 
and Orizaba, employing thousands of workmen, were 
closed. Guanajuato, one of the oldest mining camps 
in Mexico, had dwindled from forty thousand inhab- 
itants down to fifteen thousand — and there was no 
work even for those remaining. The great smelters, 
steel works and industrial plants at Monterrey — the 
sole support of a population of ninety thousand people 
— were all closed. And so all over the country. 

Felix Diaz was stirring up trouble in Oaxaca, Zapata 
was dominant in Morelos, Guerrero and Michoacan, and 



170 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKKOW 

Villa was in possession of a large part of Chihualiua. 
There were almost innumerable bands of brigands 
roaming through the country. In addition to the trou- 
bles caused by military opposition, brigandage and in- 
dustrial conditions, the government was confronted by 
very serious civil opposition. To understand this, it 
is necessary to briefly review past conditions. Under 
the former regime in Mexico there was practically no 
provision, politically, for a middle class. The govern- 
ment was an autocracy, managed by a few and in a 
great measure for the benefit of a few. These were the 
land owners on one hand, to govern, and the laborers, 
farm hands and Indians, on the other, to be governed. 
The middle class was an incident — shopkeepers, clerks, 
small professional men, small manufacturers, some small 
landowners. The middle class, on the whole, was an 
educated class dependent on the aristocratic class. It 
was fairly prosperous, and improving its position. The 
sub-leaders of the revolution came, generally, from the 
working class or from the less wealthy part of the mid- 
dle class. With the economic upheaval which followed 
the revolution business came to a standstill. Shop- 
keepers sold no goods, factories had no orders, clerks 
had no work, professional men had no money. When 
paper money went all to pieces, the middle class suf- 
fered, perhaps most of all, as salaries and fees continued 
to be paid at the same rate as before but with half or 
more of the purchasing power of the money gone. The 
laboring classes, being more or less organized, could 
at least by strikes improve their position, or, organized 
as bands, they could seize goods. The middle class, 
reduced to extremities, too proud to beg, too educated 
to loot, could only suffer. Naturally, a large part of 
this class became bitter about the revolution. The 
aristocratic class, against whom the revolution was di- 



DimCULT CONDITIOl^S lYl 

rected, was even more bitter. The laboring class and 
the Indians, as a whole, enjoyed liberty and license at 
first, but began to grumble when their wages would 
not meet half of their needs. The government had, 
therefore, arrayed against it practically the united oppo- 
sition of the old wealthy class, of an important part of 
the middle class, and of a certain part of the poorer 
and laboring classes, who wanted plenty of liberty but 
wanted cheap food with it. 

In addition to these military and economic troubles, 
there was the solid opposition of the church. It is, per- 
haps, somewhat difficult to understand the relations be- 
tween the church and party politics in Mexico. The 
Church and State had long been separated, and osten- 
sibly there was no connection between the church and 
the -political machine which for years dominated the 
country. The Church, however, had, perhaps scarcely 
realizing it, been a steady supporter of the autocratic 
government. It worked with the wealthy landowners, 
had their support and gave them its aid. It was op- 
posed to any change, and, from the first, had been hos- 
tile to the revolution — not hostile, perhaps, to all of 
the revolutionary ideals, but opposed to any departure 
from the old order of things. Its position was similar 
to that of the church in Spain — an institution which, 
in the Middle Ages, had been a check on a turbulent 
people, but which, in time, became a brake on progress. 
Mexico had not the monastic orders, nor great numbers 
of priests, as in Spain, but the church had not, as in 
the United States, developed on broad lines of thought. 
Education was parochial and along limited lines. 
There were, to be sure, many devoted priests, and sis- 
ters of charity did much to relieve the suffering of the 
poor classes. There were, and are, ecclesiastics in Mex- 
ico whose vision is clear and whose logic is sound. 



172 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKKOW 

N^evertheless, the church has never been a factor for 
progress in Mexico. 

Perhaps the feeling of Constitutionalist leaders to- 
ward the Church can best be shown by an interview the 
writer had with General Obregon in the Fall of 1916. 
The various factors of the situation were being dis- 
cussed, when General Obregon, in his clear, sharp waj, 
asked : 

" Do you know any of the large haciendas ? " 

" Yes." 

" Please describe them — the grounds, the buildings, 
and so on." Residence, peons' quarters, warehouses, 
and other features were enumerated, and finally the 
chapel was mentioned — 

" Stop ! Do you know what that is for ? " 

" To give the peons a place to worship." 

" JSTo," Obregon snapped out, bringing his fist down 
on the table, " that is where the poor peon is given the 
daily dose of spiritual cocaine to keep him happy and 
illusioned through the day." 

This is, of course, an extreme view, but many peo- 
ple, including conservative Mexicans having no sym- 
pathy with the government, believe that there is a good 
deal of truth back of the statement. The church taught 
patience, obedience, peace, spiritual consolation. In the 
rural districts it was, intentionally or otherwise, hand- 
in-glove with the owners of the large haciendas. Obre- 
gon's bitter view of the situation was that the Church 
got anything that the estate owner overlooked — in 
other words, that the peon slaved for a pittance for 
the " hacendado " and then had to give up anything 
he had to secure repose for his soul. There were ha- 
ciendas where conditions were ideal, where the estate 
owner had a fatherly interest in all his people, where 
the priest represented the ideals of religion, — and there 



DIFFICULT CONDITIOl!TS 1Y3 

were haciendas where conditions were the reverse. 
Obregon, in his " Eight Thousand Kilometers of Cam- 
paign/' makes some statements as to the morals of rural 
priests which are hard to believe, but which, at least, 
show the bitterness of feeling. Moreover, the program 
of the Constitutionalists, advocating civil marriage and 
divorce and restricting the authority of the church in 
several directions, was sufficient cause for hostility on 
the part of the clericals. The Church felt itself put on 
the defensive from the start. It may be said, incident- 
ally, that Carranza and his family are Roman Catholics, 
as are nearly all of the leaders in the Constitutionalist 
movement, and their antagonism to the Church was not 
religious, but political. Whatever may be the right and 
wrong of the matter, the fact remains that the govern- 
ment had the united opposition of the church, and this, 
in a strongly Roman Catholic country, was no small 
matter. 

The government was, therefore, through the year 
1916, constantly facing the greatest possible difficulties 
— epidemics, extreme industrial depression, lack of con- 
fidence, civil opposition, church hostility, currency and 
financial difficulties, formidable military opposition, 
brigandage, and critical foreign relations. Viewing the 
United States as a possible, even a probable, enemy, a 
considerable portion of the army was occupied in the 
l*[orth in a defensive attitude, simply keeping tab on the 
American troops in the country. This cut down the 
number of troops available to meet armed opposition 
within the country, and also had the effect of stimulat- 
ing rebellion. Villa and other leaders used the Ameri- 
can menace as a rallying cry to recruit more men, and 
the increased strength of their forces made it much more 
difficult to push an effective campaign against them. 
The army was short of ammunition, which, because of 



174 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

an embargo established by tbe United States, could not 
be obtained. 

With a very large majority of the people discontented 
and hostile, the government was in a very difficult posi- 
tion. It had, to be sure, military support, but many of 
the troops were ill-trained and undisciplined. Many 
of the minor chiefs were quite independent and given 
to all sorts of excesses. In the early part of 1916 the 
streets of the capital were full of unruly officers, racing 
up and down in motor cars filled with fast women, and 
fights and shooting affrays in cafes and restaurants were 
common. The troops themselves were an element of 
grave danger. Paid in depreciated currency, at a rate 
of as low as five cents per day, they were likely, at any 
moment, to upset the whole scheme. 

Many of the troubles of the government were directly 
or indirectly due to financial difficulties. The revolu- 
tion started with no money in the treasury, and the gov- 
ernment put out paper currency which, in the early 
days of the revolution, was accepted, along the border, 
at about thirty cents to the peso. Increasing issues 
gradually forced the price downward, and in April, 
1915, its paper peso had a market value of about ten 
cents (United States Currency). The rapid changes of 
government in the National Capital in 1915, each accom- 
panied by changes in currency, largely destroyed confi- 
dence in paper money. Carranza money would pass 
current so long as Carranza held the capital. The 
Zapatistas or Villistas, on occupying the city, would re- 
pudiate existing currency and issue their own, enforcing 
its acceptance as long as they remained in power. Then 
Carranza money, having meanwhile slumped in value, 
would come back again. Each issue would sag slowly 
in value, and then, immediately before evacuation of the 
city by those in power, it would slump violently — and a 



DimCULT CO:ti[DITIOKS 175 

sudden drop usually meant a new government on the 
scene. Speculators would buy all the paper offered, 
hold it for a possible change of administration or smug- 
gle it through the lines to dispose of it in territory occu- 
pied by the faction issuing it. Some of the states had 
their own paper issues. There were, also, many bank 
bills in circulation, but there was always some uncer- 
tainty as to whether the banks were solvent, many of the 
banks having failed and all of them being closed down. 
In the capital the matter was complicated by the fact 
that the Zapatistas, on first taking the city, having no 
plates, used some old plates they found and ran off a lot 
of Carranza currency, decreeing, however, that only 
bills above certain serial numbers would be valid. All 
the bills were cheaply made, and a tremendous amount 
of counterfeits were in circulation. 

How much currency was issued altogether by the vari- 
ous factions will never be known. The Constitutional- 
ist issue of " Vera Cruz " money amounted to a total of 
eight hundred million pesos or more. This money, 
starting out with a market value of about ten cents, 
dropped steadily until, by the end of March, 1916, it 
was selling at about two cents. This money was, like 
the paper issues of other factions, merely a promise to 
pay, with no reserve back of it. The government then 
put out a new issue, to be backed by a reserve. This 
issue, known as " Inf alsicables " (non-counterf citable), 
was made in the shape of 5, 10, 20, 50 and 100 peso 
bills engraved by the American Bank JSTote Co. This 
issue appeared in April, and a portion of it was used to 
take up Vera Cruz bills at a ratio of 10 old for 1 new. 
The value of the new bills was placed at 20 centavos 
Mexican gold (10 cents U. S. currency) and by decree 
people were obliged to accept them at this rate. The 
government established a monetary commission through 



176 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEROW 

which all the new money was to be purchased, and this 
commission maintained a theoretical ratio of 10 to 1. 
As soon, however, as through the exchange of Vera 
Cruz bills, and through the use of the new bills for pay- 
rolls, the new issue got into general circulation, there 
was outside speculation in the new bills at a discount. 
In spite of penalties provided, this outside speculation 
reached great proportions, and before long the new 
money was selling outside at 50% discount. The gov- 
ernment finally lifted all restrictions, and the money, 
after holding around 41/^ and 5 cents, began steadily 
going downward until it had reached, in December, a 
ratio of 500 to 1, U. S. currency. This issue was in 
part backed by a gold and silver reserve, instead of 
being nothing more than a promise to pay, and provision 
was made to add to the reserve from time to time until 
the metal reserve should equal 10 cents U. S. currency 
for every peso issued. The public, however, had lost 
confidence in paper money, and the total gold value of 
the issue, based on selling price, dropped to an amount 
far below the actual cash reserve on hand. 

It is worth while to explain in some detail the reason 
for this steady decline. In the first place, there was a 
general lack of confidence, and a fear that, due to mili- 
tary or other needs, the gold reserve would be used for 
some other purpose. Furthermore, the daily course of 
events automatically sent the value down. For exam- 
ple: A merchant would sell something for which he 
had to get $50 gold. From past experience he was 
afraid he would lose by taking paper money. Assuming 
exchange to have been 40 to 1, the $50 would represent 
2,000 pesos, but the merchant would put his selling price 
at 2,200 pesos to cover loss on exchange. Then, as he 
had to cover bills for new merchandise in gold, he would 
give the 2,200 pesos to his broker, telling him to sell 



DIFFICULT CONDITIOit^S 117 

them to realize at least $50. The broker would collect 
5% commission, or roughly 100 pesos, and offer the 
2,100 pesos in the market for $50, or at a rate of 42 to 
1 instead of 40 to 1. If the big mining companies and 
factories happened to be in need of bills for large pay- 
rolls, exchange would hold firm, but if there was no de- 
mand for paper exchange might drop 10% in one day. 
Several hundred men went into the brokerage business, 
each one of whom had a small clientele of shops from 
whom they collected paper money at night and sold it on 
the best terms they could in the morning. As every 
shopkeeper always, in his mind, and in his sales prices, 
discounted the paper by 10 to 15%, the shopkeepers, as 
a class, each morning had a large supply of paper which 
they were willing to sell at a liberal discount. ISTat- 
urally, each transaction only opened the way for a fur- 
ther drop the day following, for with each drop the 
paper prices were advanced to 10% or 15% above cur- 
rent exchange rates. Under this process the U. S. gold 
value of the peso dropped, between September twentieth 
and November thirteenth — eight weeks — from three 
cents to one cent, then slumped to four-tenths of a cent 
and finally went out in a blaze of glory at two-tenths of 
one cent. 

The effect of such wild fluctuations in the currency on 
the industrial and economic structure may well be imag- 
ined. One curious feature of the currency difiiculties 
was that the farther away one got from the large centers, 
the lower was the market value of paper money. Rural 
districts had, to use an expressive slang phrase, been 
" stung " several times, accepting issues long after they 
^had ceased to have value in the commercial centers, and 
they were very shy about taking paper money at any 
price. If they took it at all it was at a heavy discount. 
" Vera Cruz " money might be selling at 40 to 1 in 



178 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORKOW 

Mexico City, while a hundred miles away you could 
only get 60 to 1 or 80 to 1. The tendency in rural dis- 
tricts was to revert to primitive methods of barter, or to 
trade only in silver coin, some of which found its way 
into circulation. 

Another very curious feature was the feeling of reck- 
lessness which possessed every one. With no certainty 
of what money would be worth the day following, the 
tendency was to get rid of it immediately — to waste it, 
to convert it into real estate or merchandise, — in fact, 
to do anything to avoid having it on you the next day. 
A Canadian gentleman, arriving in Mexico City, went 
to a bank to change twenty dollars gold into Mexican 
money. The banker advised him against reckless risk. 

" If you need change, sell five dollars — twenty is too 
much. You can probably buy more pesos with the bal- 
ance later. Don't change over five dollars at a time." 

He was right. The peso dropped from 4 cents to 3 
cents in a week. Besides, five dollars bought 165 pesos, 
and with street car fares at one-third o£a_ce^ and a 
liberal waiter'stip at two cents, one could not spend all 
the money in a week. 

The issue of paper pesos was supplemented, for con- 
venience in small transactions, by an issue of fractional 
currency — 5, 10, 20 and 50 centavos. This fractional 
currency was in the shape of bits of cardboard much 
like milk tickets. For ten cents silver one could get 
100 5-centavo cardboard tickets, or at the rate of ten for 
a cent. At the time of the exchange of " Vera Cruz " 
money for the new issue, at the rate of 10 for one, the 
" Vera Cruz " peso was at a nominal value of one cent, 
but soon declined to a third of a cent. The Vera Cruz 
fractional currency, at a rate of fifty or sixty for a cent, 
of course, became worthless. The new issue of frac- 
tional money met with the same fate. 



CHAPTER XVIII 
CAREANZA AND HIS TROUBLES 

With economic and financial troubles, civil hostility, 
foreign complications and internal disorder, the situa- 
tion throughout 1916 was most discouraging, and time 
and again predictions were made that there would be a 
political turnover. The government, however, kept peg- 
ging away, and little by little conditions improved. 
Carranza moved the seat of government from Vera Cruz 
to Queretaro, the latter place being far more central. 
Although his forces occupied the National Capital, he 
preferred not to have his headquarters there. His en- 
emies said he was afraid to visit the city. His real 
reason for selecting Queretero was doubtless a psycho- 
logical one. The capital, the center of social, diplomatic 
and business life, was decidedly hostile, and life there 
would involve a constant struggle with a thousand and 
one complaints and grievances. Queretaro, an agricul- 
tural city of forty thousand people, was sympathetic, and 
the government, with its staff and departments, would 
easily be the dominating influence. People with trou- 
bles to discuss would not only have to make a tiresome 
seven-hour journey, but would, on arriving, find them- 
selves in a purely government atmosphere. The man 
who, in Mexico City, backed by contact with sympathetic 
people, would be full of fight, would, after spending two 
or three lonely days in a poor hotel in Queretero, be in a 
much more subdued frame of mind. The coming and 

179 



180 MEXICO TO-DAY A:N^D TO-MOEEOW 

going of special trains belonging to various generals, the 
delays in securing audiences, in fact, all the settings and 
surroundings, tended to greatly discourage every one 
who tried to get anything done, and consequently greatly 
cut down the number of visitors. 

It was interesting, at this time, and quite amusing, 
to watch the people come and go. Carranza held an 
audience every morning, starting at ten o'clock and 
frequently lasting all day. The large reception room 
in the Governor's palace was crowded all day long with 
people waiting to see the First Chief — a general with 
four or five of his staff, with much air of bravado; 
a private, with legs shot off, on crutches, hoping to 
get some pension; a number of silk-hatted lawyers, 
with large leather cases full of papers; two or three 
widows, probably to get aid in property matters ; a dele- 
gation of factory workers, in " jumper " suits ; four 
or five peons in their white cotton suits and sandals, 
evidently a delegation of some sort, sitting silently 
together in a corner ; a few business men looking nerv- 
ously at their watches from time to time, the while eye- 
ing each other suspiciously, each one wondering what 
the others were there for; two or three smart military 
aides, with much gold braid, running in and out of the 
various rooms ; some rather ragged porteros whispering 
together; two sandaled soldiers, in white pyjamas, 
guarding the door and poking their gims at every one in 
a manner calculated to give a nervous person severe 
chills — and so on day after day. A day spent in wait- 
ing for one's name to be called always took some of the 
starch out of one's mental collar. Even the somewhat 
arrogant general and his staff, despots in their own do- 
main, who had crowded in with considerable bluster, be- 
came subdued, and accepted gracefully the announce- 
ment that they must come again the day following. 



CAEKAJ^ZA AND HIS TEOUBLES 181 

Carranza lias been praised to the skies by enthusiasts, 
and socialistic writers have seen in him the dawn of a 
new era for the world. He has, on the other hand, dur- 
ing four years, been the most cordially hated and abused 
man in Mexico. People say he is arrogant, vain, 
stupid, narrow, ignorant, a politician who caters to the 
passions of the ignorant to keep himself in power — in 
fact, about all the hard things which can be said of a 
public man. Up to a few months ago his government, 
to judge by common talk, was always on the verge of 
collapse, and sixty days more of political life was the 
maximum time limit usually set. But through it all he 
has kept pegging along, ignoring opposition, going over, 
through or around obstacles, full of confidence, always 
cheerful. Above all, he is a man of tenacity. Seem- 
ingly, he does not know what the word discouragement 
means. JSTewspaper correspondents who have cam- 
paigned with him say that reverses had as much effect 
on him as water poured on a duck's back. He would 
receive a telegram that an army had suffered a serious 
defeat, that strategic points had been lost and important 
cities evacuated, and would say, as undisturbed as ever, 
" " Oh, well, we must expect this sort of thing ; now we 
must see what the next best move is." Once his mind 
is made up, an attempt to get him to change his position 
is nearly useless. One of his leading supporters, in dis- 
cussing certain pending matters, once gave a character- 
istic description of the man. 

" I have had," he said, " many arguments and discus- 
sions with the First Chief, and several times have flatly 
disagreed with his views. There has never been any- 
thing unpleasant. He has always been calm and frank 
and courteous, but whenever, by way of emphasis, he 
has shot his chin out a little and his whiskers have 
pointed straight at me — then I have known that fur- 



182 MEXICO TO-DAY A^D TO-MOKEOW 

ther argument, at that time at least, would be quite use- 
less." 

This tenacity, combined with personal integrity, have 
given Carranza the continued support of all the able men 
in the Constitutionalist party. Even his enemies admit 
he is honest. When military graft and excesses were at 
their worst, in 1915 and in the early months of 1916, a 
good many people vaguely said that Carranza was " not 
in it for his health," but as time wore on the public 
came to the belief that the " old man " was straight. 
" He is misguided and stubborn, but personally honest," 
was the way one of the opposition put it recently. Peo- 
ple who have thought him stupid have doubtless jumped 
at this conckision from the fact that, in an interview, he 
rarely says anything. He lets you do all the talking, 
seldom expresses an opinion, and rarely commits him- 
self. He is an excellent listener, paying close atten- 
tion to what you say, looking at you with clear, frank 
eyes, his face — a strong one — pleasant but mobile. 
Whether standing or seated, his figure is erect, almost 
rigid, and his attitude, his eyes and his whole makeup 
give you an impression of a lot of force. You talk on 
and on, interrupted occasionally by a pertinent query, 
or a brief " Yes, I understand the matter perfectly," and 
the nearest you can get to an expression of opinion is, 
" Yes, that must be considered," or, " We will have to 
look into that." 

Carranza is, unquestionably, a man of much force of 
character. He is a shrewd politician, and, if his own 
position in diplomacy or politics is none too strong, he 
will patiently wait and " sit tight " until he has some 
technical point of vantage which he will push for all 
there is in it. A dozen times he has played a waiting 
game, letting the other side do all the talking, but not 
losing a minute when an opportunity came to score. 



CARRAKZA AND HIS TROUBLES 183 

For instance, the American-Mexican conference in 1916 
indulged in much general discussion for a month. The 
American commissioners felt nothing was being accom- 
plished, and said so. The Mexicans said that Mexico, 
irritated by the presence of American troops, did not 
want to take up any questions until the troops were 
withdrawn. More discussion followed, with proposals 
that the troops be withdrawn under certain conditions, 
but the Mexicans " sat tight " on insisting that the 
troops be withdrawn unconditionally. Finally, a pro- 
tocol was drawn up covering the withdrawal, and the 
Mexicans, claiming such an agreement unnecessary, 
only signed under protest. There was much talk in 
Washington as to forcing terms. Carranza doubtless 
felt that the United States would not go to war over a 
question of forcing Mexico to sign an agreement for the 
withdrawal of troops. So he stuck to his position, and 
the troops were withdrawn without any agreement. 
Washington, to be sure, had no desire for armed inter- 
vention in Mexico, and this was, after all, the reason 
why the troops were withdrawn and every effort made to 
put matters on a friendly basis. JSTevertheless, Car- 
ranza, diplomatically, scored, as he was able to tell Mexi- 
cans that, without yielding a single point or agreeing to 
anything, the negotiations had been successful in secur- 
ing the withdrawal of the troops. 

This policy of technical diplomacy has, of course, 
serious disadvantages, as it almost inevitably leads to 
irritation and even to a feeling of exasperation. The 
American-Mexican conference might have been of great 
help in bringing the two governments into more inti- 
mate relations, and, through this, in solving some of the 
perplexing problems in Mexico. As it was, technical 
maneuvering for position gave a general impression that 
Mexico was somewhat indifferent about problems affect- 



184 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORKOW 

ing American interests, that she did not want any help 
from the United States, and, that, on the whole, any 
discussion of matters along broad lines was impossible. 

The Constitutionalist program proposes many re- 
forms, and to what extent Carranza believes these can 
be brought about in the immediate future is an open 
question. Many of the troubles are due to ignorance. 
The people, living in a condition of servitude for cen- 
turies, lack energy and initiative, have little or no con- 
ception of government, and are limited in mental out- 
look. The development of a high tone of political and 
moral thought, and the uplift in the social position of 
fifteen million people, will, naturally, take a long time. 
Carranza's attitude on some of these problems leads 
many to believe that he expects reforms to move at a 
much faster rate than is consistent with sound gTowth. 
Others feel that he falls in with radical measures only in 
order to get started, and also to make the proletariat 
feel that social problems will receive due attention. 
Whichever may be the case, it is certain that his mind is 
set on certain ideals. This was shown in 1915, when, 
in the midst of general disorder and turbulence, and at 
a time when the government was scarcely established, he 
sent one hundred and fifty school teachers on a tour to 
see the schools in leading American cities. 

Politically, Carranza is no beginner. He held impor- 
tant posts in the State of Coahuila, under General Diaz' 
regime, for a number of years, so that he had, before 
heading the revolutionary movement, an intimate 
knowledge of political and social conditions. He comes 
of a family having a considerable property, and has 
always been well-to-do, even rich if judged by Mexican 
standards. 

Mexico City, occupied by Constitutionalists, Zapatis- 
tas, Villistas and others in rapid succession, was in a 



CAKRAI^ZA AND HIS TEOUBLES 185 

demoralized state in 1915. Then, when the Carranza 
forces finally came to stay, a start was made on restora- 
tion of normal conditions. Pablo Gonzalez was put in 
command as military governor, and, by the Spring of 
1916, he had placed the city in order so far as protection 
of life and property was concerned. Obregon, ap- 
pointed minister of war, placed a check on the military 
excesses. Loose carousing around town ceased, business 
houses reopened, and people began to attend to their 
affairs much as if nothing had ever happened. By Fall 
things were running fairly smoothly. Railway service 
to Vera Cruz, to the American border, and to most of the 
important cities in Mexico, while attended with consid- 
erable risk from bandit operations, became fairly reg- 
ular. Government departments, after an irregular sort 
of existence in Vera Cruz and Queretaro, settled down 
in the capital, and most of them, in the hands of some 
able men, were soon managing public business with a 
considerable degree of precision. A period of six 
months of organization was followed, in the Fall, by 
some serious effort to improve the economic situation. 
Discontent and business troubles had been, largely, due 
to currency troubles, and to stabilize the paper money 
several decrees had been issued, with little or no tangible 
results. Two or three times all the brokers in town 
had been jailed because of continued speculations in 
currency, and this had had no effect of bringing about 
stability. With the peso falling in value daily, there 
was much hardship, and labor was in constant unrest. 
A committee of employees would thresh out matters with 
their employers and reach a wage agreement. Ten days 
or two weeks later, when payday came around, the peso, 
having meanwhile declined, would have twenty or thirty 
per cent, less purchasing power. Then there would be 
new demands. Currency values were so uncertain that 



186 MEXICO TO-DAY AN"© TO-MOREOW 

frequently demands were made for an increase of one 
hundred per cent., partly to catch up for lost ground, 
partly to anticipate future declines. Strikes were con- 
stant. Many employers of labor used the situation as a 
means of underpaying their labor, and even when de- 
mands for increases were wholly or partially met there 
was usually a mental calculation that the new scale was, 
after all, much less than normal wages. Factories which 
had reopened were selling their products on a gold basis, 
and paying their labor with cheap paper. Mines, pro- 
ducing gold and silver, were paying wages in depreci- 
ated currency. To correct these conditions, a decree 
was issued in October, 1916, providing that all salaries 
and wages should be paid on a gold basis, — in gold or 
silver, or in paper at an equivalent to be fixed by the 
government every ten days. Under this plan, a drop in 
the gold value of the peso would be compensated by 
an increase in paper pay. An amplification of this de- 
cree provided that, in general, salaries and wages should 
be at least 60% of those paid in normal times, and that 
as conditions improved increases should be made to 
70%, 80%, and so on until normal wages should be 
restored. The government had for some months real- 
ized that conditions would never be satisfactory until 
the currency was stabilized, and, as such stabilization 
was impossible, the next best thing was to arrange mat- 
ters so that the purchasing power of wages would be 
constant. The decree referred to was met with jeers 
by most people, who saw in it only the government's 
admission of its inability to control the exchange situa- 
tion. However, it was soon clearly demonstrated that 
the decree was to be of far-reaching consequences. Its 
first effect was to make labor more contented and to put 
an end to the innumerable strikes, lockouts and shut- 
downs which had been so prevalent. The next effect 



CAERAl^ZA AND HIS TEOUBLES 187 

was that, with wages fixed on a gold basis, even if pay- 
able in paper equivalent, the employer class could not 
save much by paper payments, and was the more likely 
to accept the demands for payments in gold and silver. 
Employers soon began paying on a part-paper, part- 
metal basis, and before long a large part of all pay- 
ments of wages were being made in " hard " currency. 
Gold, silver and fractional currency, kept in hoarding 
for three or four years, began again to circulate. The 
working class soon demanded all wages in gold and 
silver. This, in turn, further depreciated the peso, 
which, in November, dropped from about two cents to 
four-tenths of a cent. The government then came out 
with a decree declaring a moratorium on paper and 
placing all business transactions, salaries and wages on 
a straight gold basis. The question of redemption of 
outstanding paper money was to be dealt with later. 
The resumption of metal currency payments immedi- 
ately stimulated every line of business, and this, in turn, 
soon led to increases in wages to the figures paid in 1912 
and 1913. More wages meant more buying power, and 
factories soon jumped back to something like normal 
production, resulting, in turn, of a heavy drop in the 
number of unemployed. The peso, worth one cent on 
November thirtieth, and dropping to four-tenths of a 
cent at the end of the month, on December sixth was 
back at its old value of 50 cents. 

To say that the change and its consequences were 
amazing would be putting it mildly. For nearly three 
years gold and silver coins had been rarely seen, and 
had, in fact, vanished so completely that they might 
never have existed. They could be bought from bankers 
and brokers, chiefly for foreign transactions, but during 
this time the entire business of the country was done in 
paper. Then gold and silver began to be used in shops 



188 MEXICO TO-DAY AISTD TO-MORROW 

dealing in imported goods — they sold for metal only, 
but at first gave nothing but paper change. Then this 
had extended to other shops. Then, following the de- 
cree called ley de pagos, or wage law, already referred 
to, the whole country suddenly awoke to find itself back 
on a sound currency basis. It is doubtful if the finan- 
cial history of any country contains an example of as 
drastic a change as this. 

The immediate effect of the change was to create a 
shortage in currency. The amount in circulation was 
comparatively limited. With the banks closed, checks 
could not be used, so that even large transactions had to 
be handled in coin. This, coupled with the demand 
for payrolls and ordinary trade, immediately sent cur- 
rency to a premium, which for a few days was as high 
as ten and twelve per cent. In other words, to buy five 
hundred pesos in gold you had to pay, in New York 
exchange or other equivalent, five hundred and fifty 
pesos. To meet this situation the large concerns im- 
ported American gold and bills, which, for a time, cir- 
culated freely. The government opened its mint to free 
coinage, and the large mining companies turned all their 
bullion in for coinage. These companies would deposit 
a certain amount of bullion, and, on later receiving its 
equivalent in coin, would meet their payrolls and sell 
the balance against New York exchange. The mint was 
soon coining new money at a rate of half a million pesos 
a day, and within a month the premium on currency 
had dropped to nominal figures. 

A curious problem, which, somewhat later, confronted 
the government, may be mentioned in this connection. 
The Mexican silver dollar had, normally, an intrinsic or 
metal value of 45 cents, more or less, depending on the 
market price of silver. The metal for years was worth 
in the neighborhood of 50 cents an ounce. Higher- 



CAKKAi^ZA AISTD HIS TEOTJBLES 189 

priced silver in the boom of 1906-7 sent the metal value 
of the peso to about 57 cents, and low metal prices had 
sent this value down to 37 cents at certain times. Gen- 
erally speaking, however, the value fluctuated between 
45 cents and 50 cents. With the rapid rise in silver 
price in 1917 the peso value (intrinsic) went to 62 
cents — or a premium of about 25 per cent, on the legal 
value. This was bound to drive pesos out of circula- 
tion, and the government, as fast as they were turned in 
for taxes, and so forth, recoined them into half pesos 
pieces having a greater percentage of alloy. To force 
the coins into government hands United States gold was 
placed at a discount of two and one-half per cent., and 
United States Treasury and National Bank notes at 
twelve and one-half per cent, discount. These dis- 
counts, while seemingly absurd, compelled people who 
had taxes to pay, to find Mexican gold or silver coin, 
and the latter was then recoined into currency whose 
intrinsic value was lower than its legal value. In mid- 
summer, however, silver took another shoot upward, 
reaching, early in the Fall, a high-water figure of $1.08 
an ounce, or more than double its ordinary value. With 
this sudden increase the intrinsic value of the " toston," 
or half-peso piece, went far above its legal value, reach- 
ing a high mark of about 35 cents again — at a legal 
value of 25 cents — or 40% premium. At the same 
time the value of the Mexican dollar, or peso fuerte, 
went to 85 cents, against its legal value of 50 cents. 
These premiums naturally drove the currency out of cir- 
culation, and in September and October there was a 
great stringency in silver currency. One was likely, on 
paying for a small article with a ten-peso gold piece, to 
receive, in change, a five-peso gold piece and the balance, 
perhaps four pesos, in copper coins, 5-centavo nickels 
and 10-centavo silver pieces. The peso finally became 



190 MEXICO TO-DAY AJ^D TO-MOEEOW 

stabilized at 621/^ cents and has remained at tliat figure 
for a year. This value is on the basis of the metal 
value of two half-peso pieces. On this basis, Mexican 
currency is at a premium of 25%. 

The declaration of a moratorium on paper money left 
the question of redemption to be settled. A large part 
of the " Vera Cruz " bills had been turned in on ex- 
change for the new issue, and the remainder were now 
taken up by giving short term bonds, in a ratio of one 
for ten. The bonds promptly sold at a heavy discount, 
but even at that the Vera Cruz money became worth 
something — about five cents on the dollar, against a 
previous value of next to nothing. The government, 
when " Infalsificable " money went to 200 and 300 to 
1, bought in a considerable amount, but there still re- 
mained a large amount — probably 200 million pesos 
out of a total of 500 million printed — in the hands of 
the public. What to do with this was a problem. The 
government had started putting this out on a basis of 
twenty centavos gold, or ten cents, and had solemnly de- 
clared, by decree and otherwise, that it had this legal 
value. The government itself had, however, paid out, 
in wages, pay of troops and other disbursements, the 
greater part of the issue at figures far below this value, 
all the way down to two cents, or even less. To fix a 
redemption basis at ten cents gold would, consequently, 
have meant redemption at a higher value than the gov- 
ernment had received for the bulk of the issue. On the 
other hand, redemption at a two-cent rate would be 
going back on government decrees and declarations. 
Einally, the ministry of finance hit on a beautifully 
simple and ingenious scheme, and a decree was issued 
providing that on all taxes, which were payable in gold, 
there should be a supertax of equal amount payable in 
" Infalsificable " money. In other words, the taxpayer 



CAKRAI^rZA AND HIS TEOUBLES 191 

"who had to pay in gold, one thousand pesos, was obliged 
to turn in, at the same time, one thousand pesos in 
paper. If the taxpayer did not have the paper pesos 
he could buy them in the open market. Under this plan 
the government had no responsibility for fixing the re- 
demption value of the paper peso. Moreover, it escaped 
all expense of redemption. The paper money came in 
automatically. Under the stimulus of a sure market, 
the paper peso promptly went from 300 to 1 up to 50 
to 1, and has stayed around the latter figure ever since. 
The taxpayer was the only sufferer, but as it cost him a 
supertax amounting to only about four per cent, of the 
amount of his taxes, the hardship was not great. If he 
had to pay one hundred dollars in taxes, the decree 
added about four dollars to his payment. More than 
half of the outstanding amount of paper money has been 
gathered in by this clever arrangement. When the 
supply begins to run short the government can reduce 
the percentage of surtax in inverse ratio to the market 
price of paper money. Eventually the whole issue will 
have been wiped out without any expense of redemption. 
When the decree was first put out some of the foreign 
taxpayers did some grumbling over increased taxes, but 
one and all wore broad grins in discussing the ingenuity 
of the plan. 

The paper issues of the government were failures, 
and were doomed to failure from the first. The cur- 
rency fiuctuations caused much trouble, and discredited 
the government. There is, however, another important 
point to consider. The revolution started without 
money and without credit, was financed through to suc- 
cess on paper money, and the government was finally in 
a position to go on a gold and silver basis. When out- 
standing bonds issued on Vera Cruz money are taken 
up and the last of the " Inf alsificable " bills called in, 



192 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

the whole paper operation will have cost the government 
probably less than five million dollars. To put through 
a revolution, maintaining from fifty thousand to a hun- 
dred thousand men in the field for three years, is no 
small achievement. From this viewpoint the paper 
issues were successful. It is true that, when the gov- 
ernment became fairly established, and particularly 
when it had to pay its troops in coin, it met with a 
deficit, which, as will later be pointed out, was covered 
by forced loans from the banks. The fact, however, 
remains, that the revolution, starting with nothing, was, 
in spite of bitter opposition and continuous fighting, 
carried through to the point where an established gov- 
ernment had at least a dominant control of the whole 
country, and all on paper issues which, when all cleaned 
up, will represent a total expense of four or five million 
dollars. Whatever may be individual opinion as to the 
government, this accomplishment is full justification for 
the issues of paper money. Much as one may criticize 
a scheme which was bound to upset economic conditions, 
the final success of the revolutionary cause at least shows 
great resourcefulness on the part of the leaders. Paper 
naoney was a creature of necessity. As demands grew 
its volume was increased, and finally inflation reached 
the point where the supply was greater than the demand, 
with all sorts of evil consequences attendant on the col- 
lapse of issues. At times it threatened to break down 
the government. Nevertheless, when all is said and 
done, it was the only financial structure the government 
had, and it served its purpose. 

There were amusing features to the paper money 
scheme. A mining company, needing a large amount 
of bills, sent a representative to the government seat at 
Vera Cruz to buy bills with New York drafts. The 
treasury did not 'have sufficient currency on hand, but 



CAEEAN'ZA A]^D HIS TEOrBLES 193 

promised to start the presses on the order in the morn- 
ing. The job was started next day, and the presses 
ground away tw», days. Then the mining man, who 
was waiting at a hotel while his order for money was 
being printed, suddenly found himself fairly buried 
with paper money — whole cartloads of it. He finally 
got it all baled up and took it home on the train. Whole 
truckloads of paper were needed at mines and industrial 
plants to pay off men, and the sight of motor cars, 
loaded full with money, was not uncommon. As the 
money depreciated in value people became utterly care- 
less about it. Small bills were, in banks and brokers' 
offices, done up in bundles of 500 or 1000 pesos, and 
time and time again these bundles would go through a 
score of hands without being counted. The money was 
so cheap that it was hardly worth counting — at least, 
that was the sensation produced by having slathers of it 
everywhere. As government succeeded government, 
having in one's possession any money of opposition 
issues was a criminal offense for which one was liable 
to imprisonment and to a fine equal in amount to the 
money found on the victim. People passed the money 
along as fast as they got it, but a few, usually foreigners, 
frequently got " stuck " with considerable amounts of 
worthless issues. One large foreign concern carried in 
its vault a million or more pesos of Villa money, and 
continued for two or three years to regard this sum as a 
cash asset, although the money had become absolutely 
worthless. 

The usual operation of a creditor hunting for a debtor 
was reversed. People who owed money were always 
hunting for their creditors and trying to force them to 
accept payment in the currency of the day. Civil courts 
being suspended, they had much trouble doing this, but 
they frequently got a policeman to go with them to see a 



194 MEXICO TO-DAY ANJ} TO-MOKEOW 

creditor and try to force payment on him. A decree 
was issued in the Fall of 1916 providing that debts over 
three years old could be paid at a ratio of five paper 
pesos for every peso. This, with the possibility of lift- 
ing a debt, contracted in gold, at ten or fifteen per cent. 
by paying in paper pesos, created a fresh rush on the 
creditor class. Finally, shortly before paper went out 
altogether, various decrees were issued providing, in 
general, for the discharge in debts on a gold basis, ac- 
count being taken of the rate of exchange prevailing 
when the debts were contracted. This, and the return 
to a gold basis, cleared up the situation. 

Mexico, for four years, has been doing business with- 
out any banking system, and this extraordinary condi- 
tion has been a very serious factor in the restoration of 
economic and industrial affairs to a normal basis. With 
the general upheaval which followed Huerta's fall, prac- 
tically all the banks closed their doors. In fact, many 
of them closed during the Huerta regime. The public, 
alarmed by the trend of political events, began with- 
drawing money from the banks, and Huerta, to stop 
these runs, issued a decree declaring all days to be legal 
holidays. Since that time banking business has prac- 
tically been limited to foreign exchange transactions, 
handled by a few foreign-owned banks. At first the 
banks were anxious to realize on commercial paper they 
held — loans to manufacturers, retail houses, and so 
forth, but disturbed political and business conditions 
made collections very difficult. At the same time de- 
positors insisted on withdrawing their money. With no 
money coming in, and collections on paper slow or im- 
possible, practically all banks had to suspend operations. 
Then, when the peso fell to ten cents, five cents, and so 
on downward, conditions were reversed. People owing 
money to the banks wanted to take up their notes, 



CAEEAITZA AND HIS TEOUBLES 195 

making payment in depreciated money, and all sorts of 
compromise settlements were made. The banks were 
now as anxious to get rid of their deposits as they had 
been to keep them. Every bank conducted a campaign 
to induce its clients to withdraw their funds, but the 
depositors objected vigorously to being paid off in money 
worth five or ten per cent, of what they had originally 
deposited. Again compromises were resorted to, and a 
good many accounts were closed out. The successful 
banker was the man who, at the end of a month, could 
boast that he had, during the month, coaxed or bullied 
a goodly percentage of his depositors to withdraw their 
funds. One large bank which wanted to wind up its 
affairs was only prevented from doing so by the fact that 
a long list of depositors flatly declined to withdraw their 
accounts on terms offered them. With the return to a 
gold basis at the end of 19 lY the depositors had good 
reason to congratulate themselves on having hung on. 
The return to a gold basis, so far as the banks were con- 
cerned, worked both ways. The commercial paper they 
held, assuming the clients to be solvent, went back to 
par. 

The lack of bank accommodations put merchants on a 
strictly cash basis, and any replenishment of stocks had 
to be made out of cash accumulated from sales. In the 
unsettled state of affairs, and with risks of loss in trans- 
portation, many merchants would do no buying, and, 
with limited stocks to sell, they marked up their wares 
to high figures, and did all business on a basis of small 
sales and large profits. Imported articles went to two, 
three and four times their normal prices. Due to the 
general depression all retail business suffered, but some 
concerns, dealing in special lines, made, at the high 
prices prevailing, more money than they had ever made 
under normal conditions. One foreign concern, with 



196 MEXICO TO-DAY AIi[D TO-MORROW 

ample cash to keep its stocks of goods up, cleared over 
fifty thousand dollars in 1016, as against a best previ- 
ous record of half that amount. 

Soon after paper money made its appearance the gov- 
ernment became involved in a wrangle with the banks, 
charging that they were responsible for the depreciation 
of the currency. It was alleged that the banks 
" pegged " the rate of exchange day by day, and, know- 
ing in advance what rates would be, made large profits 
by going short on the money market. The bankers al- 
ways had a fair idea of what foreign exchange demands 
were, and they could judge, by offerings from brokers, 
of the amount of paper money available. They were 
thus able to calculate, with some degree of accuracy, 
what exchange was likely to be the day following, or 
even two or three days in advance. Doubtless some of 
them made money by speculation, and, as with increas- 
ing quantities of paper the tendency of the market was 
downward, they were usually on the short side of the 
market. While the banks, or some of them, profited 
by the situation, the contention that they deliberately 
ruined paper money appears to be unfounded. A bank, 
of all institutions, requires economic stability, and that 
a group of banks would deliberately set out to ruin the 
currency of a country seems preposterous. The basic 
trouble lay in the inherent weakness of the currency. 
The bills were promises to pay, issued solely on the 
credit of the government — backed by faith only. In 
the chaotic conditions prevailing no one had much faith, 
and this, coupled with the fact that a fresh supply of 
bills was pouring out of the treasury at the rate of a 
million pesos or more per day, naturally resulted in a 
steady decline. As pointed out before, the government 
had no choice in the matter. It had to put out paper 
money to meet its military and civil expenses, and. 



CARRA^ZA AOTD HIS TROUBLES 197 

everything considered, its paper operations served their 
purpose. The unfortunate feature of the matter was 
that some of the public officials became convinced that 
the banks had combined to discredit the government and 
its currency, and were willing, if necessary, to pull down 
the whole economic structure of the country to bring 
about a political change. This reasoning, combined 
with the impression that the banks were all making huge 
profits out of declines in exchange, led to the most unfor- 
tunate results. From time to time bank managers and 
directors were arrested and jailed, and decrees were 
issued suspending the circulation of bank notes, — acts 
"which tended to discredit the government both at home 
and abroad. Under former banking laws banks could 
put out in circulation bills secured by fifty per cent, of 
cash and bullion and fifty per cent, of commercial paper, 
mortgages and other assets. In the summer of 1916 a 
decree was issued requiring the banks to bring their 
cash assets up to the full legal requirements, a condition 
impossible, in most cases, to comply with. As a result 
of this decree the National Bank of Mexico, controlled 
by French interests, and the Bank of London and Mex- 
ico, chiefly owned in England, were declared to be in a 
state of liquidation, and the government named liqui- 
dators to take charge. 

The government, meanwhile, had been obliged to meet 
a large part of its expenses with gold payments. There 
was no gold in the treasury, and there was a deficit 
amounting to some ten million pesos per month. To 
meet this situation the government forced loans from 
the National Bank and Bank of London and Mexico, 
and repeated the operation several times, finally prac- 
tically exhausting their bullion and cash reserves. Hos- 
tile foreigners refer to this operation as the looting of 
the banks. Drastic as this action was, there was good 



198 MEXICO TO-DAY Al^B TO-MOEEOW 

ground on which to justify it. The government had 
already increased taxes to as high a point as good policy 
would warrant, and any considerable increase of revenue 
from this direction was impossible. In the demoral- 
ized condition of business, an internal loan would have 
been a total failure. A foreign loan under the condi- 
tions was impossible. The government, after four years 
of fighting, had established itself and was bringing order 
out of chaos. Money had to be found with which to 
pay troops, or the army would revolt, and a new up- 
heaval, on top of several turbulent years, would inevit- 
ably have resulted in a state of anarchy. The money 
in the banks was the only money available, and it was 
taken as the only way out of a very difficult situation. 
Since that time the revenues of the government, due to 
gradual normalization of conditions, have increased 
steadily, and present income is sufficient to take care of 
current needs. When a loan can be floated the banks 
will have to be repaid, and, in the opinion of people most 
competent to judge, they will eventually be properly 
taken care of. 

The government contemplates at some future date the 
starting of a new bank of issue, to be backed by cash 
assets derived from the sale of certain railway interests 
and from other immediate and future sources. Issues 
of the new bank will be secured by its cash assets and 
by commercial paper, something along the lines on 
which the American Eederal Eeserve system is organ- 
ized. If, with past experience to guide future action, 
due care is taken to place cash assets where they cannot 
be used for emergency government needs, the new bank's 
issues will have public confidence, and the bank will 
form the nucleus around which a new banking system 
can be built up. It would seem that the safest way to 
secure the entire confidence of the public would be to 



CAEKANZA AOTD HIS TEOUBLES 199 

deposit bullion and cash assets with a group of banks in 
New York, London or Paris. There would be no chance 
of feeling, even on the part of the most timid, that assets 
back of the bills might be used for some other jjurpose. 

As pointed out before, some of the banks of Mexico 
were weak long before the revolution started, the assets, 
in many cases, being of doubtful value. There never 
was any proper system of bank inspection, and through- 
out the country there had been much looseness in making 
loans to favored people. This, combined with deprecia- 
tion of assets which would, normally, have been good, but 
which, due to many failures incident to the general busi- 
ness collapse, makes the future of many existing banks 
quite uncertain. The general program of the govern- 
ment to limit circulation to one bank of issue is, con- 
sidering conditions, an excellent one, as it will prevent 
the circulation of a great number of bank notes of doubt- 
ful value. Some of the state banks, as, for example, the 
Bank of the State of Nuevo Leon (Monterrey), have had 
good assets and have managed, in spite of all the up- 
heaval, to keep these intact. Such banks will be able to 
resume business. Many banks will have to be liqui- 
dated, but may show sufficient assets to warrant reor- 
ganization. To take care of the needs of various com- 
munities many new banks will have to be started. In a 
country where there is, even normally, comparatively 
little capital available, the organization of a new bank- 
ing system will present many difficulties. An adequate 
banking system is, of course, essential, but in creating 
it great care will have to be taken to insure its sound- 
ness. 

The sudden change to a gold basis brought about a 
rapid revival of business. Day labor jumped from ten 
cents to fifty cents, and this created a greater purchasing 
power in the country. With the reopening of factories 



200 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOREOW 

there was a new demand for labor. Good prices for 
foodstuffs stimulated agricultural pursuits, and liacien- 
das which had lain idle for two or three years again 
resumed operations. This also resulted in an increased 
demand for labor. With work for all who wanted it 
many who had been roaming the country as bandits 
again took up peaceful pursuits. The improvement in 
economic conditions brought about a great change in the 
attitude of the public toward the government. The 
peon class, for three years half starved, was again back 
on full pay, and was, at least relatively, so well off that 
it became almost enthusiastic for the government. The 
skilled mechanic class was better off' than it ever had 
been, with higher wages and shorter hours, and, forget- 
ting all its past troubles, became an ardent supporter of 
the government. In the middle class, shopkeepers were 
doing a good business, and professional men and clerks 
were again in receipt of " hard money " incomes, and 
for them the new order of things promised opportunity. 
So the middle class, which had, perhaps, suffered most, 
and which had been very bitter against the government, 
now began to speak for it. The property owning class, 
although still out of sympathy, began to feel that the 
government was going to last, and its attitude changed 
from one of open hostility to reluctant acquiescence to 
the new order of things. Thus the government, opposed 
a few months before by all classes, now found itself with 
a considerable public backing. It has been said many 
times that public opinion in Mexico amounts to nothing, 
and that a government only needs military power to 
live. This, with a large mass of ignorant people, is 
more or less true, as was demonstrated by the fact that 
the new government, backed by military strength, pulled 
through in spite of practically united civil opposition. 
Nevertheless, the new civil support, through removing 



CAERANZA A]^D HIS TEOUBLES 201 

causes of discontent, greatly reduced any danger of or- 
ganized opposition, — destroying, so to speak, the set- 
tings whicli any other faction would need to stage a new 
performance. 

Nothing better illustrates the improvement in condi- 
tions than the earnings of public utility corporations 
such as tramways, lighting and power plants and rail- 
ways. The tramways system in the National Capital 
in the Spring of 1916 had had daily receipts of about 
30,000 pesos, equivalent, in gold, to one thousand dol- 
lars, while a year later daily receipts were over 20,000 
pesos, equivalent to ten thousand dollars. The light and 
power company supplying all the territory in the vicin- 
ity of Mexico City with electric service, had had, in the 
early months of 1916, gross monthly receipts, in gold 
figures, amounting to less than twenty thousand dollars 
— and this for a concern with fifty million dollars of 
investment, — while a year later the monthly receipts 
had jumped to over one hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars. National Railway earnings increased from less 
than four hundred thousand dollars in November, 1916, 
to over one million three hundred thousand dollars in 
January — only two months later. Similar increases 
were made by public utility concerns all over the coun- 
try, the major part of all increases being due to change 
in the currency value. 



CHAPTER XIX 
THE NEW CONSTITUTION 

The government had, for some months, been await- 
ing an opportunity to return to a constitutional basis. 
The dictatorship, with Carranza as First Chief, was an 
emergency affair, created because of chaotic conditions, 
but its continuance produced an embarrassing situation 
in both foreign and domestic relations. Foreign gov- 
ernments were unlikely to give a dictatorship full sup- 
port. At home, Carranza and his immediate assistants 
were occupied with a vast amount of detail due to the 
fact that ordinary constitutional procedure was, for the 
time being, suspended, throwing on them the settlement 
of all judicial and administrative problems. More- 
over, many military leaders, knowing Carranza to have 
the final say in all matters, were constantly asking favors 
and privileges which it was difficult to refuse, and the 
reestablishment of a constitutional basis would auto- 
matically cover the situation. Accordingly, arrange- 
ments were made to hold a convention at Queretaro in 
February, 1917, for the purpose of adopting a new con- 
stitution. The return to a gold basis and the general 
improvement in economic conditions justified the claim 
that the time had arrived to put into legal effect the 
general program of the Constitutionalist party. By way 
of preparation several commissions were named to pre- 
pare drafts of the various sections of the proposed con- 
stitution. 

The convention duly met at Queretaro. Delegates 

202 



THE ]^EW COISTSTITUTION 203 

were present from all sections of the country, and as, in 
their selection, open support in the past of the Consti- 
tutionalist cause was a requisite, there were no repre- 
sentatives of any other political creed. There were, 
however, three wings in the Constitutionalist party, 
conservatives, militarists, and extreme radicals. The 
conservatives were small in number and influence. The 
militarists were largely governed by selfish motives. 
The radicals were in favor of the most drastic sort of 
changes in the constitution, with provisions for idealis- 
tic measures for the working classes and with generally 
socialistic tendencies. The make-up of the convention 
was disappointing. The majority of delegates were men 
of no experience in government, many of them entirely 
lacking in the qualities necessary to fit them for consid- 
eration of the business on hand. The government pro- 
gram, partly conservative and partly radical, was drawn 
up on theoretical lines. The government, from the very 
start, had received its strength from ranchers, lawyers, 
engineers and military men, and had never received any 
sympathy from the business or commercial element. Its 
tendencies in constitutional reforms were, therefore, to- 
ward following professional lines of reasoning without 
reference to the practical application of theoretical 
ideals. The general spirit of the convention was to at- 
tempt to immediately correct, by one document, all the 
ills of four centuries of unsatisfactory conditions. 
There was much wrangling between the different ele- 
ments comprising the convention, and at times it looked 
as if nothing would be accomplished. The government 
doubtless felt that it was better to yield some points than 
to have the whole work fail. Moreover, many leaders 
took the position that they now had the chance to get a 
fresh start; that if reforms were not immediately pro- 
vided for by the constitution so many influences would 



204 MEXICO TO-DAY AISTD TO-MOKEOW 

be brought to bear that they would never be brought 
about; that it would be better to put through radical 
measures and modify the details later than to do noth- 
ing; and finally, that the majority of the convention 
demanded a sweeping reform of the constitution, and 
refusal to comply would mean a disastrous blow to the 
government. The new constitution, a compromise 
measure, was finally adopted, and the convention ad- 
journed. 

The constitution, as adopted, has been the subject of 
much discussion, praise and ridicule. The sentiment 
of extreme reformers in Mexico and the United States 
has been that the document would do miTch toward the 
elevation of the masses. The opinion of Mexican busi- 
ness men and of foreigners resident in Mexico is that 
many features provided for are impractical, but their 
denouncements are frequently so sweeping as to lose 
weight. The opinion, expressed by many, that the 
whole constitution is too ridiculous to receive serious 
consideration is not, in general, supported by a careful 
study of the matter. It is quite true that the constitu- 
tion is idealistic, and that in aiming at ideals practical 
considerations of application to existing conditions have 
been ignored. It is equally true that some of the Uto- 
pian plans would be difficult to carry through even under 
a highly developed social scheme, and far less likely to 
succeed under prevailing conditions in Mexico. How- 
ever, the number of these radical provisions is limited. 
The work, as a whole, contains much less matter subject 
for criticism than first impressions, gained from com- 
mon hearsay, would convey. 

In general, the constitution was drawn on the lines of 
the constitution of 1857. Provisions for civil and per- 
sonal rights, judicial organization and procedure, pow- 
ers of National and State legislatures, the duties and 



THE l^EW CONSTITUTION 205 

powers of the President, civil administration, and na- 
tional defense, are clear and in keeping with similar pro- 
visions in the constitutions of other nations. Every pre- 
caution is taken to prevent a return to an autocratic gov- 
ernment. There were many modifications of the 1857 
constitution, such as explicitly limiting the authority of 
military tribunals to persons belonging to the army, and 
to providing for a separate place for detention of pris- 
oners awaiting trial instead of having them confined, as 
has been the practice, with persons serving sentences. 
These and other such modifications were made either to 
clarify the old provisions or to safeguard personal 
rights. It is scarcely necessary to describe, in detail, 
the various clauses, and discussion of the question^may 
advantageously be limited to the features which, in de- 
parting fiom what may be called general practice or in 
radically altering Mexican law, have attracted attention. 
Even a discussion of such features must necessarily be 
restricted to general treatment. 

Without reference to their order, various items deal- 
ing respectively with the Church, with the land ques- 
tions, with labor questions, and with rights of foreigners, 
may be grouped for convenience. 

Liberty of religious thought is guaranteed, but places 
of public worship shall be under government supervi- 
sion. All church buildings, rectories, asylums, convents, 
colleges and schools belong to the Nation. The Federal 
government shall designate which of them may be de- 
voted to religious worship or to the various purposes to 
which they have been dedicated. Public and private 
charitable institutions, for the sick and needy, for scien- 
tific research or for the diffusion of knowledge, shall not, 
under any circumstances, be under the administration 
or supervision of religious orders nor of priests or min- 
isters, even if the latter be not in active service. Priests 



206 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOREOW 

and ministers, of whatever denomination, liave no right 
of franchise, and must refrain from political comment. 

Church and State have had no direct relation for many 
years, but heretofore, while the church was barred from 
owning rural estates, it could own church buildings, 
school property, and so forth, and could make invest- 
ments in city property. The new provisions are de- 
signed to make it a purely religious institution. 

The provision for new land laws are important and 
radical. All proceedings, decisions or concessions 
which may have deprived hamlets, tribes or other settle- 
ments of community lands owned by them in 1856, are 
declared null and void, and all such lands are to be re- 
turned to their original owners. This provision is in- 
tecaded to make restitution of tribal and village lands 
which, by various grants and concessions, or by legal 
proceedings, have been absorbed by the large haciendas. 
Due to lack of proper records, many of the old titles 
were faulty, and, in fact, in many cases there were no 
titles to community lands which had been held by tribes 
for centuries. It is claimed that the great land owTiers 
took advantage of this situation and calmly took posses- 
sion of community lands, making formal denouncement 
of the property as waste land, or secured possession of 
lands under concessions giving them title to all lands, 
within certain areas, on which no prior title existed. 
There appears to be no doubt but that tribes and com- 
munities were defrauded out of many holdings. The 
Yaqui Indians, for centuries owners of large areas of 
fertile lands in the Yaqui Valley, lost all their property 
through this sort of manipulation. The general plan 
of restoration of lands is a just one, and the only difl&- 
culty likely to arise out of this provision is in the case 
of lands which, since acquisition by private holders, have 
changed ownership. 



THE N^EW CONSTITUTIOIS]" 207 

Provision is made that each state shall fix the maxi- 
mum area of land which one person may own. The ex- 
cess above such area shall be sold by the owner under 
such provisions as the respective states shall make. In 
the event of failure of the owner to sell within the time 
si^ecified by the State law, then the state shall take over 
the property by expropriation, compensating the owner 
in special bonds secured by the land and guaranteed by 
the State, and shall resell the land in parcels, taking 
payment in twenty annual installments to cover prin- 
cipal and interest. This provision is designed to break 
up the great estates and to enable the poor man to 
acquire land on easy terms. Another clause provides 
that each state shall decide the area of land which shall 
constitute a family patrimony. Such land shall be in- 
alienable, and shall not be subject to attachment. This 
provision is interesting as an effort to prevent an Indian, 
once he has acquired a piece of land, from disposing of 
it by sale or through mortgage, and was doubtless 
prompted by experience in connection with Madero's 
hastily conceived and ill-fated land distribution scheme. 
Madero seized large properties which, it was claimed, 
had been taken away from tribes and villages, and made 
land allotments. The Indian, on receiving a piece of 
land, immediately disposed of it to any one who would 
buy, even if he only received a few pesos for it, with 
the result that the bulk of the land allotted passed imme- 
diately into the hands of speculators. The general idea 
back of this provision is, doubtless, to assure a piece of 
land to every family. The constitution, however, makes 
no provision to cover the succession of patrimony, it 
doubtless being figured that one general redistribution 
will be sufficient remedy for past evils. Another provi- 
sion of the constitution says that " all contracts and con- 
cessions made by former governments from and after 



208 MEXICO TO-DAY A^D TO-MOKKOW 

the year 1876 which shall have resulted in the monopoly 
of lands, waters and natural resources of the Nation by 
a single corporation or individual, are declared subject 
to revision, and the executive is authorized to declare 
those null and void which seriously prejudice the public 
interest." 

The constitution, in the way of general anti-monopoly 
legislation, makes the following declaration : " The law 
will accordingly severely punish and the authorities duly 
prosecute any accumulation or cornering by one or more 
persons of necessaries for the purpose of bringing about a 
rise in price; any act or measure which shall stifle or 
endeavor to stifle free competition in any production, 
industry, trade or public service; any agreement . . . 
entered into by producers, manufacturers, merchants, 
common carriers ... to stifle competition and to com- 
pel consumers to pay exorbitant prices ; and in general 
"whatever constitutes an unfair and exclusive advantage 
in favor of one or more specified persons to the detri- 
ment of the public in general or of any special class of 
society." Patents and copyrights are specifically ex- 
empted from the provisions of the above. 

In dealing with the general question of monopoly, 
there is the following regarding labor unions : " Asso- 
ciations of labor organized to protect their own interests 
shall not be deemed a monopoly. ISTor shall cooperative 
associations or unions of producers be deemed monopo- 
lies when, in defense of their own interests or of the 
general public, they sell directly in foreign markets 
national or industrial products which are the principal 
source of wealth of the region in which they are pro- 
duced, provided they be not necessaries, and provided 
further that such associations be under the supervision 
or protection of the Federal Government or of that of the 
States, and provided further that authorization be in 



THE JSTEW CONSTITUTIOlSr 209 

each case obtained from the respective legislative bodies. 
These legislative bodies may, either on their own initi- 
ative or on the recommendation of the executive, revoke, 
whenever the public interest shall so demand, the au- 
thorization granted for the establishment of the associa- 
tions in question." 

Provisions as to the labor question will be dealt with 
in a separate chapter. 

Of especial interest to foreigners is the following 
provision with reference to ownership of lands, mines 
and mineral fuels : " Only Mexicans by birth or natu- 
ralization and Mexican companies have the right to 
acquire ownership in lands, waters and their appurte- 
nances, or to obtain concessions to develop mines, waters 
or mineral fuels in the Republic of Mexico. The Na- 
tion may grant the same right to foreig"ners, provided 
they agree before the Department of Foreign Affairs to 
be considered Mexicans in respect to such property, and 
accordingly not to invoke the protection of their Govern- 
ments in respect to the same, under penalty, in case of 
breach, of forfeiture to the Nation of property so ac- 
quired. Within a zone of 100 kilometers from the 
frontiers, and of 50 kilometers from the sea coast, no 
foreigner shall under any conditions acquire direct own- 
ership of lands and waters." 

This has created much discussion and brought forth 
protests from foreign governments. Article 14 of the 
Constitution says that " no law shall be given retroactive 
effect to the prejudice of any person whatsoever." By 
inference, therefore, the above clause would not apply 
to lands or mines already owned by foreigners, although 
whether the courts would so construe is open to doubt. 

The labor element did not propose to be satisfied with 
any general provisions as to the rights of labor, and the 
constitution, as adopted, gives much detail which nor- 



210 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKROW 

mallj would be embodied in legislative action rather 
than covered by constitutional provisions. This detail, 
covered by Article 123, on " Labor and Social Welfare," 
is sufficiently interesting to warrant giving it in full, as 
follows : " The Congress and the State Legislatures 
shall make laws relative to labor with due regard for 
the needs of each region of the Republic, and in con- 
formity with the following principles, and these princi- 
ples and laws shall govern the labor of skilled and un- 
skilled workmen, employees, domestic servants and ar- 
tisans, and in general every contract of labor. 1. Eight 
hours shall be the maximum limit of a day's work. 2. 
The maximum limit of night work shall be seven hours. 
Unhealthy and dangerous occupations are forbidden to 
all women and to children under sixteen years of age. 
jN^ight work in factories is likewise forbidden to women 
and to children under sixteen years of age; nor shall 
they be employed in commercial establishments after 
ten o'clock at night. 3. The maximum limit of a day's 
work for children over twelve and under sixteen years 
of age shall be six hours. The work of children under 
twelve years of age shall not be made the subject of a 
contract. 4. Every workman shall enjoy at least one 
day's rest for every six days' work. 5. Women shall 
not perform any physical work requiring considerable 
physical effort during the three months immediately 
preceding parturition ; during the month following par- 
turition they shall necessarily enjoy a period of rest and 
shall receive their salaries or wages in full and retain 
their emplo^nnent and the rights they may have ac- 
quired under their contracts. During the period of 
lactation they shall enjoy two extraordinary daily pe- 
riods of rest of one-half hour each, in order to nurse 
their children. 6. The maximum wage to be received 
by a workman shall be considered sufficient, according 



THE NEW CONSTITUTIOiT 211 

to tlie conditions prevailing in the respective regions of 
the country, to satisfy the normal needs of the life of the 
workman, his education and his lawful pleasures, con- 
sidering him as the head of a family. In all agricul- 
tural, commercial, manufacturing or mining enterprises 
the workmen shall have the right to participate in the 
profits in the manner fijsed in Clause IX of this article. 
7. The same compensation shall be paid for the same 
work, without regard to sex or nationality. 8. The 
maximum wage shall be exempt from attachment, set- 
off or discount. 9. The determination of the minimum 
wage and of the rate of profit-sharing described in 
Clause VI shall be made by special commissions to be 
appointed in each municipality and to be subordinated 
to the Central Board of Conciliation to be established in 
each State. 10. All wages shall be paid in legal cur- 
rency and shall not be paid in merchandise, orders, 
counters or any other representative token with which 
it is sought to substitute money. 11. When owing to 
special circumstances it becomes necessary to increase 
the working hours, there shall be paid as wages for the 
overtime one hundred per cent, more than those fixed 
for regular time. In no case shall the overtime exceed 
three hours nor continue for more than three consecu- 
tive days ; and no women of whatever age nor boys under 
sixteen years of age may engage in overtime work. 
12. In every agricultural, industrial, mining or other 
class of work employers are bound to furnish their work- 
men comfortable and sanitary dwelling-places, for which 
they may charge rents not exceeding one-half of one per 
cent, per month of the assessed value of the properties. 
They shall likewise establish schools, dispensaries and 
other services necessary to the community. If the fac- 
tories are located within inhabited places and more than 
one hundred persons are employed therein, the first of 



212 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORKOW 

the above-mentioned conditions shall be complied with. 

13. Furthermore, there shall be set aside in these labor 
centers whenever their population exceeds two hundred 
inhabitants, a space of land not less than five thousand 
square meters for the establishment of public markets, 
and the construction of buildings designed for municipal 
services and place of amusement. jS'o saloons nor gam- 
bling houses shall be permitted in such labor centers. 

14. Employers shall be liable for labor accidents and 
occupational diseases arising from work; therefore, em- 
ployers shall pay the proper indemnity, according to 
whether death or merely temporary or permanent dis- 
ability has ensued, in accordance with the provisions of 
law. This liability shall remain in force even though 
the employer contract for the work through an agent. 

15. Employers shall be bound to observe in the installa- 
tion of their establishments all the provisions of law re- 
garding hygiene and sanitation and to adopt adequate 
measures to prevent accidents due to the use of machin- 
ery, tools and working materials, as well as to organize 
work in such a manner as to assure the greatest guar- 
antees possible for the health and lives of workmen com- 
patible with the nature of the work, under penalties 
which the law shall determine. 16. Workmen and em- 
ployers shall have the right to unite for the defense of 
their respective interests, by forming syndicates, unions, 
etc. 17. The law shall recognize the right of workmen 
and employers to strike and to lockout. 18. Strikes 
shall be lawful when by the employment of peaceful 
means they shall aim to bring a balance between the 
various factors of production, and to harmonize the 
rights of capital and labor. In the case of public serv- 
ices, the workmen shall be obliged to give notice ten 
days in advance to the Board of Conciliation and Arbi- 
tration of the date set for the suspension of work. 



THE NEW CONSTITUTION 213 

Strikes shall only be considered unlawful when the ma- 
jority of the strikers shall resort to acts of violence 
against persons or property, or in case of war when the 
strikers belong to establishments and services dependent 
on the government. Employees of military manufac- 
turing establishments of the Federal Government shall 
not be included in the provisions of this clause, inasmuch 
as they are a dependency of the national army. 19. 
Lockouts shall only be lawrful when the excess of produc- 
tion shall render it necessary to shut down in order to 
maintain prices reasonably above the cost of production, 
subject to the approval of the Board of Conciliation and 
Arbitration. 20. Differences or disputes between capi- 
tal and labor shall be submitted for settlement to a board 
of conciliation and arbitration to consist of an equal 
number of representatives of the workmen and of the 
employers and of one representative of the Government. 
21. If the employer shall refuse to submit his differences 
to arbitration or to accept the award rendered by the 
Board, the labor contract shall be considered as termi- 
nated, and the employer shall be bound to indemnify 
the workman by the payment to him of three months' 
wages, in addition to the liability which he may have 
incurred by reason of the dispute. If the workman re- 
ject the award, the contract will be held to have termi- 
nated. 22. An employer who discharges a workman 
without proper cause or for having joined a union or 
syndicate or for having taken part in a lawful strike 
shall be bound, at the option of the workman, either to 
perform the contract or to indemnify him by the pay- 
ment of three months' wages. He shall incur the same 
liability if the workman shall leave his service on ac- 
count of the lack of good faith on the part of the em- 
ployer or of maltreatment either as to his own person or 
that of his wife, parents, children or brothers or sisters. 



214 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

The employer cannot evade this liability when the mal- 
treatment is inflicted by subordinates or agents acting 
with his consent or knowledge. 23. Claims of workmen 
for salaries or wages accrued during the past year and 
other indemnity claims shall be preferred over any other 
claims, in case of bankruptcy or composition. 24. 
Debts contracted by workmen in favor of their employ- 
ers or their employers' associates, subordinates or agents, 
may only be charged against the workmen themselves 
and in no case and for no reason collected from the 
members of his family. JSTor shall such debts be paid 
by the taking of more than the entire wages of the work- 
man for any one month. 25. No fee shall be charged 
for finding work .for workmen by municipal offices, em- 
ployment bureaus or other public or private agencies. 
26. Every contract of labor between a Mexican citizen 
and a foreign principal shall be legalized before the com- 
petent municipal authority and viseed by the consul of 
the nation to which the workman is undertaking to go, 
on the understanding that, in addition to the usual 
clauses, special and clear provisions shall be inserted 
for the payment by the foreign principal making the con- 
tract of the cost to the laborer of repatriation. 27. The 
following stipulations shall be null and void and shall 
not bind the contracting parties, even though embodied 
in the contract: (a) Stipulations providing for inhu- 
man day's work on account of its notorious excessiveness, 
in view of the nature of the work, (b) Stipulations 
providing for a wage rate which in the judgment of the 
Board of Conciliation and Arbitration is not remunera- 
tive, (c) Stipulations providing for a term of more 
than one week before the payment of wages, (d) Stip- 
ulations providing for the assigning of places of amuse- 
ment, eating places, cafes, taverns, saloons or shops for 
the payment of wages, when employees of such establish- 



THE l^EW CONSTITUTION 215 

ments are not involved, (e) Stipulations involving a 
direct or indirect obligation to purchase articles of con- 
sumption in specified shops or places, (f) Stipula- 
tions permitting the retention of v^age by way of fines, 
(g) Stipulations constituting a waiver on the part of 
the workman of the indemnities to which he may be- 
come entitled by reason of labor accident or occupational 
diseases, damages for breach of contract, or for discharge 
from work, (h) All other stipulations implying the 
waiver of any right vested in the workman by labor 
laws. 28. The law shall decide what property consti- 
tutes the family patrimony. These goods shall be inal- 
ienable and shall not be mortgaged, nor attached, and 
may be bequeathed with simplified formalities in the 
sucession proceedings. 29. Institutions of popular in- 
surance established for old age, sickness, life, unemploy- 
ment, accident and others of a similar character, are 
considered of social utility ; the Federal and States Gov- 
ernments shall therefore encourage the organization of 
this character in order to instill and inculcate popular 
habits of thrift. 30. Cooperative associations for the 
construction of cheap and sanitary dwelling houses for 
workmen shall likewise be considered of social utility 
whenever these properties are designed to be acquired 
in ownership by the workmen within specified periods." 
The position of the Church in Mexico has already been 
discussed, and comment on the Constitutional provisions 
in this respect would be superfluous. The question is 
one of internal policy. The clerical party will natu- 
rally disagree with the government's view as to the 
necessity of such drastic legislation, and doubtless church 
people generally will consider the various provisions as 
constituting unwarranted interference with private 
rights. Whether the hostility of the church party can 
be of serious embarrassment is doubtful. 



216 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKROW 

The provision that concessions whicli have resulted in 
the monopoly of lands, waters and natural resources may 
be subject to revision, and may be declared null and void 
where they " seriously prejudice public interest," is very 
radical, and is declared by many to be destructive of 
property rights. It is of a general nature. Doubtless 
it is intended that future legislative action shall make 
provision for the method of determining whether a con- 
cession is seriously prejudicial to public interest, and 
also what, if any, compensation may be awarded in the 
event of nullification of existing contracts or concessions. 
While this provision is very extreme, and bluntly put, it 
is, probably, no more radical than much of the recent 
legislation in American states along anti-trust and anti- 
monopoly lines. The trend of all modern legislation 
has been toward broadening of the scope of " public in- 
terest " as against private rights. Public service cor- 
porations twenty years ago denied the right of the State 
to interfere in their affairs, but to-day accept, and wel- 
come, as a protection, state regulation and supervision. 
The objection to the clause referred to is made on theo- 
retical grounds, but the danger of such a clause will be 
more through the method of its application. The same 
may be said with reference to the provision for the acqui- 
sition by the State, through the issuance of bonds, of 
tracts of private property. Such a provision would be 
entirely reasonable, presupposing the financial stability 
of the state. Practically, however, the property owner 
will object to taking bonds of doubtful value. In justi- 
fication of such provisions of the constitution its framers 
say, and with much reason, that a constitution must 
necessarily be drawn up on ideal lines ; that it cannot 
consider elements of weakness, safeguards against which 
can be covered by necessary legislative enactment; and 



THE ^EW COl^STITUTIO^ 217 

that it must lay down fundamental bases for national 
policy regardless of immediate conditions. 

Provisions for the " nationalization " of lands, mines, 
oil properties and other natural resources are of especial 
interest to foreigners. These provisions were made 
partly because of past troubles in dealing with foreign 
concerns, and partly in the hope of stimulating national 
development. Foreign interests see in such legislation 
a generally hostile attitude toward outside capital. In 
theory, at least, the provision that lands and subsoil 
rights shall be owned by Mexicans, or, if owned by for- 
eigners, shall not be subject to diplomatic discussion, is 
a reasonable one. It says, in effect, that a foreigner 
may own real property in Mexico if he places himself 
on a par with Mexicans. To this no reasonable objec- 
tion can be offered. In its practical application, how- 
ever, the foreigner may be at a disadvantage. As be- 
tween his rights and the rights of Mexicans, assuming 
that the two come in conflict, he feels that he would have 
local prejudice against him, and that Mexican courts, if 
called upon, would, in differences between himself and 
Mexicans, or between himself and the government, be in- 
clined to decide against him. The general policy as- 
sumes stability of government and proper dispensation 
of justice by judicial procedure, and, given these, any 
opposition would be groundless. Again, the defenders 
of the constitution say that in framing such a document 
stability of government and honest dispensation of jus- 
tice must be taken for granted. While, theoretically, 
the general idea of full control of national lands and 
subsoil is a sound one, the time for the promulgation of 
the principle was unfortunate. Mexico had been, for 
four years, in a more or less chaotic condition, with scant 
protection for life and property, and with a total sus- 



218 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORKOW 

pension of all judicial procedure. The very govern- 
ment which was proposing this radical change in policy 
was, in the act of providing a constitution, just emerg- 
ing from a dictatorship which had declared all consti- 
tutional rights inoperative. It is true that the govern- 
ment, in advocating a constitution, was giving evidence 
of its good faith, and while no one doubted but that its 
intentions were good, there was still much skepticism as 
to its ability to carry out its ideals. Eoreigners felt that 
such a policy, advocated by a government which, over a 
period of years, had proved its stability and the honesty 
and fairness of its judicial system, would not have met 
with serious opposition, but that it was expecting too 
much to ask them, with the uncertainty of existing con- 
ditions, to give their assent or to expect their compliance. 
The general attitude of foreign interests will be dis- 
cussed further on. 

The constitutional provisions covering labor questions 
have been very generally criticized as socialistic and im- 
practical. They are an attempt, by legislation, to ele- 
vate the position of the laboring classes, and, as such, 
are commendable. They assume that higher wages, 
shorter hours and better housing and other conditions 
will automatically elevate the social status of the worker. 
They ignore some vital factors in the question. Cheap 
labor, the world over, is cheap in quality as well as in 
price. Making all due allowance for bad political con- 
ditions which permitted the exploitation of the laboring 
class, the fact remains that the value of the peon labor 
unit is low largely because his efficiency is low. Higher 
efficiency would come with a higher educational and 
intellectual standard, and, had the peon possessed these, 
he would have made political progress. The peon, 
through poor political conditions, has not been able to 
improve his social and political status, and this cannot 



THE NEW C0KSTITUTI0:N' 219 

be done purely by artificial legislation, no matter how 
altruistic the motives. The mere granting of higher 
wages will not accomplish much. The immediate effect 
of this is to reduce the number of days of work. The 
peon has very simple wants, and if he can meet his needs 
by working five days instead of six he will remain idle 
another day each week. This, with shortening of hours, 
tends to provide employment for all, but does not mean 
material progress. Education will, in time, accomplish 
much, but no matter how effectively an educational pro- 
gram is pushed, its results will not be felt for several 
years. What is most essential at the moment is that the 
Indian be taught to work with higher efficiency. A 
desire for better food, better clothing and stronger off- 
spring will not be developed by constitutional enact- 
ment. It has been said that the highest degree of civi- 
lization is indicated by the state of savings accounts, or, 
in other words, that a full development is only reached 
when man is willing to sacrifice immediate desires to 
provide for future comfort for himself and his family. 
The peon is far removed from this state. He is, gen- 
erally speaking, not even willing to work enough to bet- 
ter his social status. If he has enough to <iarry himself 
through to next pay day he is satisfied, even though this 
represents nothing more than bare existence. Men han- 
dling large construction jobs in Mexico know, to a cer- 
tainty, that they will be short ten or fifteen per cent, of 
their labor on the day following payday. This, in rural 
commimities, is not due to drinking, but to sheer idle- 
ness. The peon gets his pay, pays debts for food used 
during the previous week, and, if he has anything left 
over, he feels he can take a day off. The great problem 
will be to raise his aims and ideals and, through these, 
increase his desire for work and the efficiency of his 
labor. Elevation of his status, with suitable legislation 



220 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKROW 

to protect him in his labor, will give him a position in 
the world which he does not now enjoj. In other words, 
he will, collectively, be an industrial factor, a producer, 
a competitor. Failure to elevate him will mean his 
continuation, and that of national life, on a primitive 
basis. The question is not as to whether or not the con- 
stitutional provisions as to labor are drawn on sound 
lines, but, rather, whether their application will accom- 
plish the purpose aimed at. There can be no question 
but that many of the provisions are humane and sensi- 
ble, and that much care has been taken to eliminate the 
abuses of the past. 

The one provision to which, as a matter of practical 
application, a vigorous protest can justly be made is that 
specifying that labor shall participate in all profits, on 
a basis to be fixed by local commissions. The general 
principle of profit-sharing has been advocated by many 
social reformers, and has been practically applied by a 
good many modern industrial concerns. Such a scheme, 
applied in Mexico, would doubtless be a factor in stimu- 
lating labor to higher efiiciency, and, through this, would 
probably, in the end, be of benefit to the employer. 
There is, however, little reason to believe that society in 
Mexico has reached a stage where a scheme of compul- 
sory profit-sharing can safely be left to the decision of 
local commissions or boards. Such a proposition, how- 
ever beautiful it may sound in the abstract, is entirely 
incompatible with the conduct of business or industry 
under existing conditions. Primarily, it is inconceiv- 
able that local boards would be able, even if honest in 
their intentions, to deal with such a vital question. The 
moment when society emerges from a purely primitive 
state, industry becomes national or international in char- 
acter, and therefore essentially competitive. Industry 
can only succeed if profitable, and it is quite evident that 



THE :N'EW COI^STITUTIO^ 221 

the views of local boards on tlie proportion of profits to 
be awarded to labor might be so divergent as to place 
certain industries at a tremendous disadvantage in com- 
petition with other regions. Moreover, such a scheme, 
if attempted at all, would require a degree of intelli- 
gence far above the average in the commissions or boards 
charged with the responsibility of settling the questions 
involved, and, further, much courage, in the face of pop- 
ular demands, to stand by honest convictions. The com- 
bination of these qualities is rare, even in a highly de- 
veloped state of society. Mexico has suffered from an 
autocratic rule which has tended to restrict social devel- 
opment, and it is therefore no reflection on the country to 
say that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to or- 
ganize, in the ordinary process of political operations, 
forty or fifty commissions composed of men strong 
enough, intelligent enough and honest enough to deal 
with such difficult and far-reaching problems. That 
such boards would offer temptation for graft is mani- 
fest. Even greater would be the danger of abuse of 
position for political motives. The tendency of such a 
proposition would be to discourage those already having 
industrial investment in Mexico, and to absolutely pro- 
hibit any new development along lines of industrial ac- 
tivity. The whole scheme is not only too idealistic, but 
is calculated to stop progress along much needed lines. 

Something may be said along the same line of argu- 
ment against the constitutional provision for fixing 
wages by local boards, but, in this, the case is somewhat 
different in that it may be assumed that the ordinary law 
of supply and demand will, in the end, settle wage ques- 
tions. 



CHAPTEE XX 
CONSTITUTIONAL GOVEKNMENT 

Following the adoption of a new constitution, an 
election was held and General Carranza was elected pres- 
ident. The election was, to be sure, a one-sided afiair, 
but even if everybody had voted the result would un- 
doubtedly have been the same. Following this, state 
elections were held, governors being elected in some and 
members of the national congress elected in all. These 
elections were the first real elections held in Mexico in 
many years, — in fact, they were probably the closest 
approach to popular elections ever held in the country. 
It is true that people opposed to the government did not 
vote, partly because of timidity and partly because they 
felt that their voting would be futile. Nevertheless, 
there was much keen rivalry between the various fac- 
tions within the Constitutionalist party. The military 
wing made a strong fight to control congress, but was 
defeated, the government coming out with a total of two- 
thirds of both houses, the balance being divided between 
other factions. In the elections for governors the gov- 
ernment candidates were generally successful. Con- 
gress was later convened, empowered the president to 
negotiate loans for national purposes, for the national 
railways, and for the creation of a new bank of issue. 
Under the circumstances anything like constructive legis- 
lation was almost out of the question. The government 
was, moreover, much hindered in its efforts by the con- 
stant opposition of the military party and by one or two 

222 



CONSTITUTION'AL GOVEENMENT 223 

political groups which, placed personal interest ahead of 
national needs. However, a good start was made, one 
particularly important accomplishment being the reor- 
ganization of a part of the judiciary, including the selec- 
tion of members of a supreme court of justice. The 
names of the men selected as supreme court justices were 
reassuring, for, while few of the new members had had 
much experience on the bench, the majority were men of 
good reputations and in some cases of high standing in 
their profession. As with most other selections for im- 
portant posts, the majority of these men were from the 
northern part of the country. 

The government, meanwhile, proceeded with the reor- 
ganization of national and local administrations, to in- 
crease, so far as possible, the efficiency of governmental 
functions and to put in systematic shape the collection 
and remittance of revenues from the various sections of 
the country. An American expert was invited to study 
the operations of the various branches of the National 
treasury, and, as a result of his labors, various divisions 
and bureaus were brought into closer coordination. An 
effort, only partially successful, was made to come into 
closer relations with foreign interests having investments 
in Mexico, so that, by a more thorough understanding, 
such interests and the government could be of mutual 
aid. 

A steady and marked improvement in railway earn- 
ings reflected better industrial conditions. The most 
serious drawback in the situation was a serious drouth 
throughout the country, resulting in a very short crop. 
This, combined with an embargo placed on foodstuffs 
from the United States, sent prices to high figures, corn 
reaching a price of thirty-three pesos a cargo, or over 
$2.50 a bushel. The high cost of living and lack of 
work in the fields resulted in the renewal of disturbed 



224 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW 

conditions in some rural districts. During tlie year 
progress was made in curbing the exactions of tlie unruly 
portion of the military element. In the greater part 
of the country civil administration was again placed in 
control. At the time of writing (November, 1918), the 
government is proceeding, necessarily somewhat slowly, 
in the reorganization of national and state departments. 
The result of efforts along these lines are already seen in 
the more precise handling of ordinary government rou- 
tine, particularly in the various ministries in Mexico 
City. Some of the departments have been handled with 
great ability, and are, to-day, on a more efficient basis 
than ever before. One new department, that of Com- 
merce and Industry, has been created, and deals with 
commercial questions, mining, oil lands, and industry in 
general. The majority of foreign interests come under 
the operations of this department, whose head, Albert J. 
Pani, is a broad-minded man of high qualifications. 

Perhaps the most hopeful feature in the political situ- 
ation is the fact that a start has been made in the devel- 
opment of public opinion. The beginnings are small, 
and the growth will be slow, but eventually public opin- 
ion will be a great force in Mexico. The government 
aims to create a new national spirit which will make a 
patriotic appeal to all elements in the country. That 
serious motives were back of the revolution is clearly 
indicated by the fact that a group of a dozen men have, 
through thick and thin, and in spite of every conceivable 
sort of discouragement, hung together to give proposed 
reforms tangible effect. The government has made mis- 
takes, and has, at times, rushed through ill-advised meas- 
ures to relieve temporary evils. It has not yet restored 
order everywhere in the country. It still has many 
grave problems to face. The fact, however, that it has 
established a government and brought a degree of order 



CONSTITUTIONAL GOVEEISTMENT 225. 

out of a seething state of anarchy entitles it to much 
credit and gives much hope for the future. 

A factor of great importance in the political situation 
is the general question of wages. Day labor, partly as 
a result of the political program and partly as a reflec- 
tion of world-wide conditions, to-day commands from 50 
to 100 ^0 more than formerly. 

RAILWAY OPEKATION 

The railways in Mexico, forming, as they do, the base 
of all industrial activity, have presented a serious prob- 
lem. In the ordinary course of military operations the 
first objective is to interrupt lines of communication and 
destroy means of transportation. During more than 
four years of more or less continuous fighting, the rail- 
ways have been the target for hostile forces. Track and 
bridges have been torn up and blown up time and again 
as opposing forces moved backward and forward. Roll- 
ing stock has been destroyed in wrecks or burned to pre- 
vent it from falling into hostile hands. In addition to 
the destruction wrought by military operations, there 
has been a tremendous amount of damage done by bands 
of brigands, who seemed to vent all their venom on rail- 
way property. Doubtless the mere fact that the govern- 
ment undertook railway operation was a sufficient reason 
for them to look on railways as natural enemies. At all 
events, no chance was missed to wreck trains, burn sta- 
tions, smash up engines and otherwise destroy every- 
thing pertaining to the railway system. The govern- 
ment took over the operation of the National Railway 
Company's system early in the revolution, but for a 
time anything like regular operation was impossible. 
Receipts from freight and passenger traffic in January, 
1915, were only $93,000 (U. S. currency), as against 
normal receipts in 1910-1911 of about $2,500,000 per 



226 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOREOW 

montii. Bj January, 1916, receipts had been increased 
to $501,000, in spite of depreciated currency. There 
was a good monthly increase throughout 1916, the fig- 
ures reaching $923,000 in August and then falling again 
because of the drop in exchange. In the Fall part- 
paper, part-gold tariffs were put in force, and December 
earnings were $902,000. Full gold tariffs then went 
in effect, and January, 1917, earnings were $1,336,000. 
In May the two-million mark was passed, and by Octo- 
ber the highest earnings in the history of the system 
were recorded. The present earnings are about $5,300,- 
000 (pesos) per month, equivalent, at present rate of 
exchange, to $3,250,000 in United States currency. 
The figures in American currency are swelled by ex- 
change conditions. Earnings as given cover, however, 
only cash receipts, and take no account of services per- 
formed for the government, inclusion of which would 
show total receipts 25% in excess of earnings in 1913- 
1914. 

This showing, in view of the physical damage suffered 
and the consequent shortage of rolling stock, is remark- 
able. The story of railway operation in Mexico dur- 
ing the years 1914-1917 would, of itself, make a good- 
sized book. Engines which the average railway man 
would say were fit only for the junk pile were repaired 
from day to day and kept in motion. Wreckage was 
collected and reshaped into freight cars. In fact, a 
very high degree of resourcefulness was shown in keep- 
ing the railways in operation. The difficulties in the 
matter of equipment were nothing as compared to the 
dangers incurred by train crews. Train after train was 
wrecked by bandits, and shooting at the engineer was 
the first motion in hold-ups. The crews, at times re- 
ceiving pay which, in depreciated currency, amounted to 
almost nothing, displayed amazing loyalty. 



COE'STITUTIONAL GOVEENMENT 227 

There were picturesque features of travel, especially 
in the early part of 1916. At that time tariiis were on 
a paper currency basis, and one could travel all day for 
a few cents. The cheap fares resulted in very heavy 
travel, and, as rolling stock was limited, the cars were 
as crowded as boxes of sardines. Ingress and egress 
were so difficult, especially at way stations, that it was 
a common sight to see passengers being shoved out of car 
windows. There was no room for the armed escorts of 
sixty or seventy men which accompanied passenger 
trains, and the soldiers rode on the roofs of the cars. 
When the Mexican soldier moves he likes to take his 
family with him, and every passenger coach, fairly bulg- 
ing out with passengers, had on its roof a motley collec- 
tion of soldiers, women, children, red blankets and bun- 
dles. The women nursed their children, and made tor- 
tillas on tiny braziers, as unconcernedly as if they were 
at home. 

Tor several months past the showing in earnings on 
railways has been somewhat artificial, due to the fact 
that, because of lack of rolling stock, the major portion 
of merchandise has been shipped as express matter. In 
other words, express service has taken the place of ordi- 
nary freight service. This, of course, has been rather 
serious, greatly cutting down ordinary traffic. Two, at 
least' of the large mining companies have purchased 
engines and freight cars in the United States and have, 
by arrangement with the ISTational Railways, been oper- 
ating their own service. One or two trading companies 
have, under similar arrangements, operated a special 
service. 

The track on the main line from Mexico City to La- 
redo, Texas, has been well maintained. Sections of the 
Mexican Central, paralleling this line, have not been 
operated, rails and other material being used to keep 



228 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORKOW 

one line in service. The Mexico City-Vera Cruz line, 
owned by a British company but operated by the Gov- 
ernment, has been v^ell kept up, but the road has suf- 
fered very heavily in the loss of engines, passenger 
coaches and freight cars. A regTilar service is main- 
tained on practically all the lines radiating from Mexico 
City. The railways in the North have had a hard time 
of it. The Mexico Northwestern Railway, running 
from El Paso southwest through the state of Chihuahua, 
territory in which the Villistas have been very active, 
has in four years had a total of over four hundred 
bridges and culverts destroyed, some good-sized bridges 
having been burned or blown up four or five times. 

DEVELOPMENTS IN YUCATAN 

The history of the Yucatan peninsula has been par- 
ticularly full of interest since the revolutionary move- 
ment began in Mexico. This peninsula, comprising the 
states of Yucatan and Campeche, and the territory of 
Quintana Eoo, is practically detached from the rest of 
Mexico by a long stretch of swampy land extending 
across the neck of the peninsula. The country espoused 
the revolutionary cause early, and the new government 
had relatively little difficulty in controlling the country. 
The State of Yucatan produces immense quantities of 
sisal, or henequen. Sisal is the fiber of a plant of the 
cactus family and is used very extensively for making 
certain grades of rope and for the manufacture of binder 
twine. The land in Yucatan and in a portion of Cam- 
peche was divided into large haciendas, or plantations, 
nearly all of which are devoted to sisal. The climate is 
tropical, and portions of the peninsula, including prac- 
tically all the territory of Quintana Roo, are covered 
with dense tropical forest. In 1916 there was formed, 
under government auspices, or, more properly, under 



CONSTITUTIONAL GOVEENMENT 229 

state auspices, tlie Commission Regnladora del Mercado 
de Henequen, or Regulating Commission for the Hene- 
quen Market. TMs commission undertook to purchase 
the entire output of sisal and to handle its export and 
sale. The commission is really a cooperative society of 
growers. Under special laws passed to cover its opera- 
tions all sisal produced must be sold to the commission, 
which handles its export and sale. A fixed price is paid 
to growers, and net profits, after costs of transportation 
and selling, are either added to the commission's sur- 
plus or distributed pro rata among the producers. The 
government participates in profits through a special tax 
on the operations of the commission. Formerly the 
large buyers fixed the price, and it is claimed that for 
years a small group of companies which took the entire 
output had pooling arrangements which automatically 
kept the price down. What, if any, pooling arrange- 
ment existed is not certain. In any event, sisal sold in 
Yucatan for about seven cents a pound, sometimes as 
low as five cents, the figure being more or less governed 
by the price of Manila hemp. The organization of the 
Eegulating Commission took price-making out of the 
hands of buyers and put it in the hands of the pro- 
ducers. The commission took advantage of the fact that 
sisal had become a necessity, as, irrespective of price, 
sufficient Manila hemp could not be produced to make 
binder twine. Consequently the commission was able 
to increase the price from time to time to the present 
figure of 19% cents. Under this arrangement the 
grower receives about twelve cents for sisal, and the com- 
mission, after paying taxes, freights and marketing ex- 
pense, nets about four cents — the profits eventually go- 
ing to the producers. The operations of the commission 
have been the subject of attacks in the United States, 
but its contention is that the producers are making the 



230 MEXICO TO-DAY XNI) TO-MOEKOW 

profit which binding twine manufacturers formerly 
made, and that advances in price have simply been in 
response to the law of supply and demand. There ap- 
pears to be little doubt that at times the commission 
could have made further increases of as inuch as fifty 
per cent, and still have had no difficulty in disposing of 
all the product. The result of this state monopoly has 
been profitable to the laborer, to the grower, and to the 
state. Wages in the peninsula have been advanced from 
one peso or one peso and a half per day to three and 
four pesos per day. The state, with its profits from 
commission operations, has been able to spend consider- 
able money in public works, has bought control of the 
United Railways of Yucatan, has built some new rail- 
ways and is planning to extend the railway system 
through the state of Tabasco to connect with the gen- 
eral railway system of Mexico. The commission has 
several million dollars in its treasury, and the state has 
no bonded or floating debt. 

Recently the United States food commission made an 
attempt to secure a reduction in price from 19^ cents 
to 15 cents — as a measure to reduce cost of wheat pro- 
duction. The commission refused to make any cut, 
claiming that the price is low in proportion to the price 
of Manila hemp, and that increases in the past two 
years have been no gTcater than increases in prices of 
other commodities. As this work goes to press the mat- 
ter appears to be deadlocked. 

General Salvador Alvarado, the State Governor, is a 
man of great capacity and much energy. He has done 
much to improve the general condition of plantation 
workers. Owners of haciendas have been induced to 
allot small tracts of land to their laborers, who, during 
off hours, can cultivate patches of corn and beans. 
Many of the laborers will, because of high pay, only 



COJiTSTITUTIOlSrAL GOVERNMENT 231 

work four days a week, giving a good part of the extra 
time to cultivating their own patches of corn, or, more 
frequently, in blissful idleness. This very materially 
affected sisal production, the 1916 crop falling twenty 
per cent, below normal. To provide sufficient labor for 
normal production peons were brought from other parts 
of the country to Yucatan, the high wages offered being 
sufficient inducement to attract them. The new order 
of things worked well for most of the plantation owners. 
Labor had to be stimulated and coaxed more or less, as 
the peon could, on the wages of three days, live a week. 
Plantation owners who were " on the job " had little 
trouble, but owners who lived in Mexico and expected 
that, as in the past, the hacienda would take care of 
itself, found a heavy drop in production. General Alva- 
rado says that three times as many people wear shoes as 
formerly, and that the desire for these and for better 
clothes — and gramophones — will, in time, result in 
steadier work. He hopes to eventually build up a class 
of small farmers and to start them on plantations of 
their own in Quintana Roo and Campeche. 

Over five hundred new schools have been opened in 
the state during the past two years, and every village 
and large plantation now has its school. An agricul- 
tural college has been opened, and each hacienda will be 
entitled to send one pupil to it. The government is 
planning to erect, through a new company backed by the 
state, a large number of model workmen's houses. Ex- 
tensive dock works at Progreso and other ports are being 
planned. A curious feature of the situation in Yucatan 
was that the peninsula never accepted the Mexican paper 
currency. Through all the economic troubles of 1915 
and 1916 Yucatan was undisturbed, and did all busi- 
ness on a gold and silver basis. 

yessels having cargo to unload at Progreso have had 



232 MEXICO TO-DAY A^D TO-MORROW 

a bad time with labor. Union rules as to hours are 
very rigid, and the men will do no overtime work or 
night work. As a result ships which formerly cleared 
in fifteen or eighteen hours now frequently spend two 
or three days unloading. Labor committees make all 
sorts of regulations, and employers make much com- 
plaint as to conditions. It must be said, however, that 
the people all look well-fed and contented. The govern- 
ment, by all reports, is well run. 



CHAPTEK XXI 
FINANCIAL NEEDS 

Mexico's finances are of interest not only as an ab- 
stract proposition but as a matter in wbich the United 
States is much interested. The direct obligations of the 
government as represented by various bond issues, for- 
eign and domestic, amount to a total, including accrued 
interest, of somewhat over two hundred and fifty mil- 
lion dollars, U. S. currency. There are, in addition, 
some internal loans of minor importance; a certain 
amount of bonds issued to take up " Vera Cruz " paper; 
a considerable amount of government scrip issued to 
pay troops and civil employees ; thirty millions owed to 
banks ; — a total, including bond issues, of slightly 
more than $300,000,000. In addition to this the 
government is liable for certain claims for loss of life 
or destruction of property during the revolution. 
The amount of these claims is not known, but the gen- 
eral impression that the total will represent a colossal 
figure is highly erroneous. The heaviest losses have 
been sustained by the railwaj^s, due principally to de- 
struction of equipment. The National Railways of 
Mexico estimate that for replacement of engines, pas- 
senger coaches and freight cars, for reconstruction of 
track work and for rebuilding stations, the sum of fifty 
million pesos, or thirty million dollars, will be re- 
quired. The National Railways system represents, 
roughly, two-thirds of the total railway mileage in Mex- 
ico, and, taking this proportion as a basis, the total 

233 



234 MEXICO TO-DAY A:N'D TO-MOEROW 

losses would be $45,000,000. This figure may be some- 
what low, especially in view of prevailing high prices 
for railway equipment, but it seems safe to estimate that 
sixty million dollars will cover the total railway item. 
The large mining properties at Pachuca, El Oro, Guana- 
juato and other camps suffered little or no material 
damage. The public utility concerns in Mexico City, 
Vera Cruz, Monterrey and other cities have had small 
physical losses. Some of the power companies have 
lost much copper wire, but the plants, as a rule, have not 
been damaged. Plantations and ranches have lost cat- 
tle, and have had some damage done to buildings. In 
the North, Villa exacted cash from mining and other 
concerns, but in Central Mexico the mining concerns 
were not seriously molested, and, curiously, through all 
the troubles, never lost a bar of bullion in transit. Al- 
together, the property losses were far less than might 
have been expected. Exclusive of railway losses, it is 
probable that legitimate foreigii claims for property loss 
will not total forty million dollars, and td" this will have 
to be added such awards as may be made to the families 
of persons who lost their lives. As the National Rail- 
ways will be treated separately, only one-third of the to- 
tal railway estimate need be included as a government 
liability. Eoreign claims for damages to property may, 
therefore, be calculated at sixty million dollars, and 
compensation for loss of life may bring the total to 
seventy million dollars. City properties were not dam- 
aged, but Mexican rural properties sustained losses 
through wanton destruction of buildings, stealing of live 
stock, and so forth, and thirty million dollars may be 
included to cover this item. It is quite probable that 
the total claims filed will far exceed this figure, as there 
is always a tendency, where dealing with a government, 
to put in exaggerated figures, but, at a rough calculation, 



FINAN"CIAL NEEDS 286 

tlie total losses (foreign and domestic claims) whicli 
could be fairly awarded may be put at a hundred mil- 
lion dollars. These figures make no allowance for in- 
direct loss due to non-production or to losses incident to 
depreciation in the currency, the total of which would 
be far greater than the direct loss. Of the total foreign 
investment in Mexico, amounting to nearly two billion 
dollars, two-thirds has been producing nothing for four 
years, representing, at five per cent., a gTOss loss of 
three hundred million dollars. Mexican rural prop- 
erties either produced nothing or received payment in 
depreciated currency, and the sum total of such loss 
would be very high. The same may be said of urban 
property. Claims for loss due to economic conditions 
or depreciated currency could not, except by a wild 
stretch of imagination, be made against the government, 
and the estimate is made on a basis of tangible physical 
damage only. 

If we take the total of claims at $100,000,000, we may 
assume that the government will, with its bonded and 
other obligations, have a total debt of $400,000,000. 
Of this, two-thirds is in bonds bearing 4^/2 and 5% 
interest, or calling, roughly, for $12,500,000 in annual 
charges. If the balance be funded at 6%, requiring 
$9,000,000, the total annual interest charges will be in 
the neighborhood of $21,500,000. A considerable sum 
of money will be needed for public works and other gov- 
ernment requirements, possibly amounting to fifty mil- 
lion dollars, and this, if included, would bring the total 
indebtedness up to $450,000,000, with annual charges 
amounting to about $25,000,000. The debt, at the rate 
of $30 per capita, would be low, and the total, in propor- 
tion to the country's wealth and natural resources, 
would be moderate. The gross income of the govern- 
ment to-day is at a rate of fifteen million pesos per 



236 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKKOW 

month, or, taking exchange at 62, about one hundred 
and ten million dollars per year — a larger income 
than under the Diaz regime. Were it not for the need 
of a large army the country to-day would be able to 
meet all its interest charges. The government to-day is 
able to meet nearly all of its current expenses out of in- 
come. Roughly, an increase of twenty-five per cent, 
in income would meet current expenses and all inter- 
est charges, and it would seem, off-hand, as if the day 
were not far off when all obligations could be taken care 
of. 

There are, however, other phases of the matter to be 
considered. People holding Mexican securities talk 
glibly about England, France and the United States 
taking action to force Mexico to meet her foreign obli- 
gations, but they ignore conditions which confront the 
government. Presumably no government ever likes to 
default on its obligations, and any such default is almost 
invariably due solely to inability to pay. Mexico has 
made no suggestion of repudiation of its debt save as to 
one item — an issue of bonds by Huerta and claimed 
by the present government to have been an illegal loan 
made by a usurping government. The question then be- 
comes purely one of how soon, and to what extent, Mex- 
ico can resume payment on her debt. 

The situation of Mexico may be compared to that of a 
huge corporation gone bankrupt. Some creditors want 
a receiver appointed — in other words, they want for- 
eign intervention, which, financially speaking, would 
probably increase the total indebtedness. Other cred- 
itors want a voice in the management. Still others are 
willing to leave the matter in the hands of the manage- 
ment — the government — but want some assurance that 
they will be taken care of. Foreign creditors feel that 
the United States, because of geographical location and 



rmAI^CIAL NEEDS 23Y 

more particularly because of tlie Monroe Doctrine, 
should act as a collection agency to get their claims paid, 
and assume that, sooner or later, their governments will 
exert sufficient pressure to bring this about. This line 
of argument assumes that, in some way or other, Mexico 
must be made to pay. If a large corporation goes to 
smash some sort of reorganization is usually provided to 
conserve its assets and bring its earning power back to 
a point where it can meet its obligations. Where a gov- 
ernment is involved, possession of the property could 
only be secured by the use of military force. In the 
case of Mexico it would seem, on broad principles, far 
wiser to have a friendly reorganization in which the 
creditors could lend a hand in necessary reconstructive 
measures. In the reorganization of large corporations 
sound policy calls for a program of not loading up the 
reorganized property with so much of a burden, either in 
amount or in distribution in point of time, as to cause a 
second collapse of the financial structure. Mexican 
finance, when reorganized, should be placed on a basis 
where the country can carry the load without staggering. 
It would seem that if, in this case, the creditors could 
get together they could reach an agreement with the gov- 
ernment as to the general outline of a financial policy to 
be pursued, making provision for immediate needs and 
arranging for a gradual resumption of payments on a 
basis which would not be too onerous. The natural dif- 
ficulty is that each particular creditor has his own par- 
ticular claim, and he is not disposed to make any con- 
cessions, even of a temporary nature. The govern- 
ment's general credit is poor, and it has no collateral 
which it can put up to get any money. It needs funds 
to organize and properly equip a sufficient force to police 
the country so that public order may be restored in 
every section. It needs aid in building up a new bank- 



238 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEROW 

ing system and in rehabilitating its railways. Given 
public order, a banking system established and railways 
in full operation, conditions will quickly normalize and 
the country will derive sufficient income for all needs. 
Until such a change can be brought about, the govern- 
ment can not meet its obligations, and securities held by 
its creditors will remain in their depressed state. The 
total amount of money needed is not great, and, once an 
agreement could be reached there would be little diffi- 
culty in finding it. The creditors, as in the case of large 
corporations, could well afford, in their own interests, to 
give new money a prior claim. The mere fact of an 
agreement being reached would, through eliminating un- 
certainty, greatly strengthen the position of the govern- 
ment, and, through the establishment of confidence, 
would tend to normalization of economic and industrial 
conditions. Naturally, the suggestion of negotiations 
looking toward such an agreement presupposes a dispo- 
sition on the part of the government to deal fairly with 
foreign interests. Many people having investments in 
Mexico have no confidence in the government. They 
do not realize, however, that there has been a great im- 
provement in conditions, nor do they make allowance 
for the fact that the government must, for selfish motives 
if for no other reason, be anxious to do anything which 
it reasonably can toward clearing up the financial situa- 
tion. Whether anything will be done toward opening 
negotiations is uncertain. The government, by way of 
a preliminary clearing up of misunderstandings, made 
an effort last year to have leading interests send repre- 
sentatives to Mexico to study and discuss the situation, 
but its proposal was somewhat coldly received, and noth- 
ing came of the matter. 

Mexico, like a good many other countries has, at times, 
given specific guarantees to secure loans. In this way 



ril^AlSrCIAL NEEDS 239 

eighty-five per cent, of its customs receipts have been 
hypothecated. The suggestion has been made that she 
could hypothecate certain taxes, such as those on oil 
and mine production, to secure a new loan. The strong- 
est private corporations, the world over, are generally 
those having a limited number of classes as securities. 
Concerns having nmnerous classes of obligations, se- 
cured by corresponding priorities as to assets and earn- 
ings, are never in as strong position as the former, and, 
in the event of financial embarrassment, invariably suf- 
fer through the wrangling between the different sets of 
creditors. The same is, generally speaking, true as to 
nationalobligations. Prof. Adams ("Finance," p. 4) 
lays down as the first axiom of sound public finance that 
" A sound financial policy will not impair the patrimony 
of the State." He says : " It is a fundamental princi- 
ple of constitutional law that each legislature shall hand 
down to its successor all the rights and powers and juris- 
dictions which it received from its predecessor; so in 
matters of public finance it is incumbent that each suc- 
ceeding administration shall find as broad a field from 
which to supply its needs and as fruitful a source of 
supply as the administration which preceded it. This 
statement is so reasonable, and springs so naturally from 
the conception that the state is a personality of perpet- 
ual life, that its mere statement must secure for it uni- 
versal recognition." It is to be hoped that in any 
financing done in Mexico future needs as well as imme- 
diate objects will be borne in mind. There is always 
danger that under stress of urgent needs the financing 
will be of such a character as to embarrass future finan- 
cial operations. Hypothecation of certain taxes or of 
customs receipts would only render more difficult the 
reorganization of the whole financial scheme. A gen- 
eral reorganization will, sooner or later, have to take 



240 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

place, and nothing should be done in the meantime to 
make the work more difficult. 

In any reorganization of finance it will be well to 
consider the ability of the country to pay, and to so 
arrange the securities that the fixed charges will, if pos- 
sible, be reduced. The corporate plan of dividing up 
obligations between bonds and preferred stocks might 
furnish a basis for some scheme which would somewhat 
reduce fixed charges and would, at the same time, give 
creditors something for the balance of their claims. 
Nothing can be worse for a government than to have its 
finances reach a state where there is no hope of ever meet- 
ing obligations. If a country cannot pay interest on 
existing obligations there is no object in piling on more 
debt, and keeping up the operation until national credit 
is completely ruined. The Turkish government, bank- 
rupt for a century, has had its finances reorganized half 
a dozen times, each operation leaving the country with a 
heavier debt than before. The creditors seem to have 
suffered from the delusion that by consolidating various 
debts and a few years of accrued interest, by advancing 
some new money, and finally, by lumping everything to- 
gether in a new issue, they would stand better chance of 
receiving a return on their money. The result is that 
Turkish bonds for years have sold at fractional amounts 
of par values. In each case foreign governments have 
been instrumental in putting through some new scheme 
of financial reorganization which in the end has been of 
no benefit to the creditors. It is true that Turkey has 
suffered much from bad government, but it is also worth 
remembering that it has always been badly handicapped 
by a financial load it could not possibly carry. In car- 
rying out general reform measures a good national credit 
is essential. Nothing so demoralizes a government as 
lack of confidence on the part of the public. Mexico is 



FIlSrANCIAL I^EEDS 241 

ricli but undeveloped. Given public confidence and sin- 
cerity of purpose on the part of the government, she can 
eventually take care of all obligations, but any attempt 
to make on her demands with which she cannot comply 
will only mean adding more trouble to a complicated 
situation. 

These remarks on matters of national finance may be 
applied, in general, to the position of the various Mexi- 
can railway properties, and particularly to the Mexican 
!N"ational Railways System. The total railway mileage 
in Mexico (exclusive of very light lines used for hauling 
on large haciendas) is, roughly, 21,000 kilometers, or 
about 14,000 miles. Of the total nearly 9,000 miles 
are included in the properties belonging to the National 
Railways. This system was formed through the con- 
solidation, in 1908, of a number of roads, shares of 
which were, in part, paid for in securities of the JSTa- 
tional Railways Company. Under the arrangement for 
consolidation, the government, by purchasing certain 
interests in roads being merged, acquired about two- 
thirds of the common stock of the new company and also 
acquired large blocks of preferred stocks. The obliga- 
tions of the company as to bonds, notes, interest, and 
stocks, are approximately as follows : 

Underlying bonds (Pesos) ... 138,794,000 

First Mortgage 41/2 's 169,608,000 

General Mortgage 4's 101,479,000 409,899,000 

6% Notes 67,364,000 67,364,000 

Accrued bond interest due . . . 71,878,000 

Accrued note interest due ... 14,146,500 86,024,500 

Common stock 149,607,000 

First preferred 57,662,000 

Second preferred 240,745,000 448,014,000 

Grand Total (Pesos) 1,011,301,500 



242 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

EougUy speaking, then, the capital liabilities are five 
hundred million dollars (assuming a value of 50 cents, 
U. S. currency, to the peso), about one-half in stocks and 
one-half in bonds, notes and accrued interest. The 
bonded debt, exclusive of accrued interest, is approxi- 
mately 45,000 pesos, or $22,500 per mile. Even with 
outstanding notes and accrued bond interest the debt 
(exclusive of capital stock) would only be about $32,000 
( U. S. Cy. ) per mile. This, in comparison to the large 
American railways systems, would be a very moderate 
indebtedness per mile. While a large part of the first 
and general bonds were used to retire outstanding bond 
and stock issues, and while a portion of these doubtless 
represented promotion profits, it seems probable that the 
original actual investment per mile must have been con- 
siderably in excess of $32,000 per mile, especially con- 
sidering the rough character of the country traversed. 
The difference is represented in losses sustained by orig- 
inal investors, whose securities were shrunk considerably 
before a general consolidation took place, and by govern- 
ment subsidies. Taking present or even normal replace- 
ment cost as a basis, the property, physically, is doubt- 
less worth somewhere between $40,000 and $42,000 (U. 
S. Cy.) per mile, or a total figure of between 720,000,- 
000 and 760,000,000 pesos. To this sum would have to 
be added, say, $45,000,000 to put the property in full 
operating condition, bringing the total value up to $45,- 
000 or $47,000 per mile. The question, however, must 
be studied on a practical basis of earnings rather than 
on a theoretical basis of original or replacement costs. 
Gross earnings in 1909, 1910, 1911, 1912 and 1913 
were practically stationary, the maximum being reached 
for the fiscal year 1910-1911, when receipts totaled 64,- 
066,415 pesos. If the value of the system be taken as 
800,000,000 pesos, then the maximum gross earned 



EINANCIAL NEEDS 243 

would be 8% of the capital, manifestly an absurdly low 
figure for the capital involved. To put it another way, 
there would, assuming operating expenses would con- 
sume two-thirds of gross revenue, be a net equal to 2 1/2 % 
on eight hundred million pesos. Net revenue, after 
payment of taxes, amounted to 21,300,000 pesos, or 
about 2% on the total present capital account, and 
214% on a valuation of eight hundred millon pesos. 
This was without making any allowance for reserves. 
Clearly the capital account is out of proportion to the 
earning power, either past or prospective. 

The government position in the matter is technically 
weak. Looked at calmly, the government is only owner 
of the railways subject to many prior claims. The line 
of argument of some friends of the government appears 
to be that, because the railways are a national necessity, 
they should belong to the government ; that because the 
government owns a majority of the common stock, they 
do belong to the government ; ipso facto, the government 
can do as it pleases as to payment of prior claims. It 
has been suggested, in the able work on railways written 
by Lie. Fernando Gonzalez Eoa, that all creditors waive 
interest for a period of ten years, by which time the 
property would be in shape to take care of all its charges 
and earn a handsome surplus. This reasoning appears 
to be on false premises. Such a proposition would, in 
effect, be that every one else interested should make a 
sacrifice in order that the government should have a 
valuable property at a future date. If the government 
has any hope of future railway or other industrial devel- 
opment in Mexico it will have to meet the question fairly 
and squarely, and it must recognize that, legally, its posi- 
tion in the railways is subject to other claims. To take 
any other attitude would be, in effect, to repudiate the 
railway debt, and this is a position that the government 



244 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW 

cannot afford to assume. Granted that it is, for politi- 
cal, military and economic reasons, desirable that the 
government should control or actively manage the rail- 
ways, such an end should be accomplished in a way 
which will give due consideration to the claims of those 
interested in the properties. 

Attention is called in Mr. Roa's excellent work to the 
financial aid in subsidies of cash and bonds given to the 
railways, and there is the implication that the govern- 
ment has, therefore, another interest in the property 
than that of a holder of a majority of the common stock. 
It is true that the government did expend large amounts 
in subsidies, but this was not as an investor but solely 
for the purpose of having raihvays huilt. It may be 
argued that such aid was unnecessary, — in fact, 
Mr. Roa rather assumes that the government was in- 
veigled into onerous terms in the various contracts. 
While, in theory, it should be easy to get capital for 
railways, in fact it is very difficult, especially in a 
country where possibilities from the standpoint of rail- 
way operations have not been developed. The various 
western railways in the United States had the greatest 
possible difficulties in securing the funds for initial con- 
struction, and even with large subsidies and land grants 
all of the roads went through bankruptcy in their early 
years, because of the lack of sufficient traffic in a sparsely 
settled territory. There is too much of a disposition in 
Mexico and in this country to assume that capital is 
always seeking a chance to gouge somebody, and that, 
inherently, a banking syndicate is a monster looking for 
some one to devour. It may be true that some of the 
terms in railway concessions were unfavorable to the 
public, but it is absurd to assume, as seems to be as- 
sumed, that the whole scheme of railway construction 



FHSTAiq-CIAL NEEDS 245 

was a nefarious one designed to put a burden on the 
public. There were, of course, promotion profits, but 
without some inducement of this sort no one would have 
ever attempted the work. Manifestly, a material reduc- 
tion must be made in the amount of capitalization, and 
all interested must be prepared to make a sacrifice. It 
is clear that the security holder would be better off to 
have a fifty-dollar bond worth fifty dollars than to have a 
hundred-dollar bond worth thirty dollars. It seems 
quite witliiii reason to believe that a form of reorganiza- 
tion could be agreed on which would provide new money, 
cut the bonded indebtedness in two and issue new pre- 
ferred and common stocks to existing security holders, 
having in mind the priority of claims, and at the same 
time make a very material reduction in the total of se- 
curities outstanding. Prior to the outbreak of the revo- 
lution the company only demonstrated its ability to earn 
bond interest and an amount sufficient to pay a small 
dividend in its first preferred stock — and this was with- 
out setting up any surplus. The accumulation of a 
large amount of unpaid interest has only made the situa- 
tion worse. 

The rearrangement of ISTational Eailway finances is, 
in a measure, a simpler matter than that of national 
finances. The railways company is a private concern, 
and the government, as a stockholder, could have no rea- 
sonable objection to giving to those engaged in financial 
reorganization a voice in administration. The amount 
of money needed for rehabilitation is not large. Be- 
cause of the troubles Mexico has gone through financial 
houses might have some hesitation in advancing money 
to the government, fearing waste and extravagance in 
its disbursement. In the case of the railways this diffi- 
culty could be obviated by having credits take the form 



246 MEXICO TO-DAY A'NB TO-MOREOW 

of rails, locomotives and cars. The rehabilitation of the 
railways on a footing where they could give regular and 
efficient service at normal rates would be a factor of the 
greatest possible importance in the general development 
of industry and commerce. 



CHAPTER XXII 
MEXICO AND THE WORLD WAR 

There seems to be a general impression in the United 
States that Mexico, in the world-war, was pro-German 
in sympathy. This is partly the result of much Ger- 
man propaganda in Mexico — a campaign pushed with 
enough energy to give an incorrect impression as to the 
degree of pro-German feeling. An important factor in 
creating this impression has been a campaign, conducted 
for some years, by a number of American newspapers, 
to do everything possible to discredit Mexico and bring 
about armed intervention by the United States. This 
campaign has been waged so persistently that the Amer- 
ican view of Mexican affairs has been somewhat dis- 
torted. Sensational stories are sent out daily by corre- 
spondents along the border regarding Mexican affairs, 
these yarns usually starting off with the statement that 
a refugee from somewhere in Mexico brings the news, 
and so forth. It is safe to say that a goodly percentage 
of these tales are made out of whole cloth, and that 
three-fourths of the balance are highly colored affairs. 
Many reputable newspapers which have no desire to aid 
in an anti-lVXexican campaign are taken in by these sto- 
ries, and innocently give them wide publicity. There 
has been a vast amount of disorder in Mexico, and in 
1915 and early in 1916 conditions were very bad. The 
sort of stories printed almost daily give the general im- 
pression that conditions are as bad as ever, and that the 
United States has been constantly facing a menace in 

247, 



248 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

the shape of Mexican-German combination. Mucli 
money was spent in German propaganda in Mexico, 
particularly in stirring up hostility toward the United 
States. Several papers were subsidized, and one paper, 
the Boletin de Guerra, printed such absurdly wild and 
silly stuff as to make it the subject of ridicule. It was 
openly charged that German money was a steady influ- 
ence with several members of the Mexican congress. 
All of this, combined with what seemed to be the waver- 
ing or hostile attitude of the government, resulted in a 
very general impression that Mexico was strongly pro- 
German. The Zimmerman note to Bernstorff, propos- 
ing a joint Mexican- Japanese attack on the United 
States, only tended, in the minds of many, to confirm 
this belief, although as a matter of fact, the note caused 
greater surprise in Mexico than anywhere else. 

Mexico, for some time, was in a generally hostile 
frame of mind toward the United States. The occupa- 
tion of Vera Cruz and the Pershing expedition aroused 
much bitter feeling. There has always been consider- 
able jealousy, always intensified by the fact that Cali- 
fornia, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado and 
Texas were once Mexican territory. The Carranza gov- 
ernment was bitter over the efforts of the American 
business interests to have Huerta recognized. Mr. 
Bryan for a time seemed on the point of acting as backer 
for Villa and this stirred up ill feeling. The hostility 
has worn oft', but Mexico, in her new-found liberty, is 
very suspicious. Some of her leaders always look on 
the United States as a possible enemy, and this is the 
view of a good many of the military. The French occu- 
pation and the war with the United States have made 
them suspicious, and the greatly exaggerated idea as to 
profits made by American companies has created a desire 
for isolation — a desire which found extreme expression 



MEXICO A:N'D the world WAE 249 

when Zapata said that when his party secured full con- 
trol of Mexico he would throw out foreigners, tear up 
the railroads, and return to primitive life. Such a 
statement does not, of course, voice Mexican opinion, 
but that there was much hostility to foreigners, and 
Americans in particular, is beyond question. The sus- 
picions bred of hostility still exist. Mexico felt for a 
time that the attitude of the United States was hostile. 
There were many misunderstandings, with blame on 
both sides. Even the recognition of the government and 
President Wilson's steady adherence to the principle 
that Mexico must be allowed to work out her own salva- 
tion have not succeeded in wiping out some of the suspi- 
cion existing. The general attitude toward the United 
States is to-day far more friendly than at any time dur- 
ing the past six years, and doubtless Mexico will some 
day realize that the United States is her best and strong- 
est friend. The government felt, however, that its 
position in the war should be one of strict neutrality, 
and it adhered to this policy. To the disinterested ob- 
server it seemed that Mexico had every reason to openly 
express her sympathy for the cause of the Allies. She 
has just been through a revolution whose chief aim was 
to do away with an autocratic form of government. If 
she fears aggression, her greatest protection lies in the 
fact that the Allies have been fighting for the principle 
that the world must be made safe for democracy — that 
the idea that might makes right can have no place in in- 
ternational relations. The majority of Latin- American 
republics either openly declared war on the side of the 
Allies or expressed their sympathy with the cause for 
which they were fighting. A declaration of sympathy 
would have greatly strengthened the friendship of the 
United States, and this would have been of very mate- 
rial aid in solving difficult financial and economic prob- 



250 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW 

lems. Tkere was no danger of having Mexico as an 
enemy, as the government fully realizes that hostility 
to the United States would be suicidal. Technically 
there could be no objection to neutrality. The advo- 
cates of this policy in Mexico took the position that, 
because of internal problems, Mexico could be of no 
material aid to the AJlies ; that, by entering the war on 
their side, or declaring her sympathy for their cause, 
she would be making an enemy, while, because of in- 
ability to give material aid, she would gain no friends ; 
that, while the pro-German sympathizers were in the 
minority in Mexico, the government did not wish to 
antagonize them, as it needed the support of every one 
in working out its problems; briefly, that Mexico, by 
departure from neutrality, would have had something 
to lose and nothing to gain. This line of argument 
seemed reasonable, but took no account of the fact that 
practically all of the foreign capital (probably close 
to two billion dollars) invested in Mexico is American, 
British, French and Belgian, while German interest, 
with the exception of a small amount of government 
bonds held by German banks, has been almost exclusively 
confined to commercial enterprise. Mexico's interna- 
tional problems will, therefore, be largely with countries 
in the Allied group, and the friendship of these coun- 
tries would be of very great help in the arrangement of 
many pending questions. 

German money was spent freely in Mexico through- 
out the war, and the propaganda was not without influ- 
ence. Early in 1916 it was a matter of common report 
in Mexico that one of the Diaz generals, resident in 
Cuba, had been offered seven million marks to finance a 
new revolution in Mexico, the aim being to bring on 
American intervention and thereby divert the supply 
of munitions then going to the Allies. Later, well- 



MEXICO AISTD THE WOKLD WAE 251 

informed Mexicans expressed their conviction that 
German money was responsible for the Columbus raid. 
On the whole, the propaganda accomplished nothing 
except, perhaps, to have kept Mexico from declaring its 
sympathy for the Allies. Even though Mexico chose 
to remain neutral, it is some satisfaction to know that 
the ablest leaders in the country were strongly pro- Ally, 
and that the Allied cause had a strong advocate in Mex- 
ico's most fearless and influential newspaper, El Uni- 
versal. 

Much of the credit for improvement in the relations 
between the United States and Mexico is due to the 
untiring efforts of Henry P. Eletcher, the American 
Ambassador at Mexico City, and Senor Ignacio Bonillas, 
the Mexican Ambassador at Washington. In selecting 
Mr. Fletcher for the important post the State Depart- 
ment chose a man of previous valuable experience in 
Latin-American diplomacy and a man who, through his 
knowledge of the people and their language, would ac- 
quire a thorough understanding of conditions before 
attempting to pass judgTnent on the various questions 
constantly being brought before the embassy. Mr. 
Fletcher's work has done much to reestablish, in the 
minds of the Mexican authorities, a confidence in the 
general disposition of the American Government. 
Senor Bonillas is a man of high ideals and broad views, 
and has a full understanding of American ideas and 
institutions. He has not only been instrumental in 
bringing the two governments into closer relations but 
has done much toward giving the American public a 
better understanding of the situation in Mexico. In a 
capital like Mexico City the American Consul General 
comes in intimate contact with government officials and 
leaders in business and social activities. Mr. George 
A. Chamberlain, appointed to this position in 1917, is 



262 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEROW 

an efficient and broad-minded official. He has, more- 
over, through birth in Brazil and through a dozen years 
of service in Latin countries, a thorough understanding 
of the Latin-American viewpoint — an invaluable asset 
for the post. 

There arose, early in 1918, an awkward situation 
brought about by war conditions. The United States, 
to prevent any outflow of gold during the war, placed an 
embargo on gold exports. Mexico has a trade balance, 
in her favor, amounting to some two million dollars a 
month, and she wants this paid in gold — an arrange- 
ment automatically stopped by the embargo. As a basis 
for solution of the difficulty, the United States proposed 
that balances due Mexico should be deposited in New 
York, and that paper currency should be issued in Mex- 
ico against such balances. As an alteration, it was sug- 
gested that balances should be settled in United States 
treasury notes. Neither arrangement was satisfactory 
to Mexico. Theoretically either method would take care 
of the matter, but practically there is the very serious 
objection that the Mexican public at large is in no frame 
of mind to accept paper currency, regardless of how well 
it is secured. Public confidence in the government's 
financial stability is not yet established, and any issue 
of paper secured by gold deposits in New York would 
be looked on with suspicion. When the time comes to 
bring out a paper currency the deposit of funds abroad 
would be an element of strength rather than of weak- 
ness, but it seems highly doubtful if paper secured by 
such deposits would, at the present time, be well received. 
The general attitude of the public on the paper question 
was indicated when, early this year, the government an- 
nounced its purpose -of immediately creating a bank of 
issue. Protests poured in from every quarter, and the 
expressions of fear of another economic upheaval were 



MEXICO A:N'D the WOELD war 253 

so great that the government decided to postpone, for an 
indefinite time, the opening of the new bank. Some of 
the Mexican government officials feel that the plan of 
securing issues by deposits in Kew York would not, even 
under normal conditions, be calculated to inspire confi- 
dence. The Mexican might feel, they say, that he was 
taking money over the security for which the govern- 
ment issuing it had no control. Speaking broadly, this 
objection cannot have very much weight. As pointed 
out elsewhere, the placing of reserves in banks in New 
York or London would, with the great majority of busi- 
ness people, inspire confidence through dispelling any 
possible fears that gold reserves securing paper of the 
government might be used for some other purposes. 
There is, of course, the possibility of some complication 
in the event that Mexico should become involved in war 
with the country where her gold deposits were accumu- 
lated. If, for instance, funds securing Mexican bank 
issues were deposited in l^ew York, there might be a 
currency panic if Mexico and the United States became 
involved in war, even if such funds were in no way 
affected. Whatever may be said on the question pro 
and con, there is no doubt but that, for immediate pur- 
poses, the plan is open to objections. 

So far there has been no definite settlement of this 
question. When the embargo on gold was first placed, 
Mexico retaliated by placing an embargo on the export 
of silver. This was a serious blow to the silver produc- 
ing mines, largely owned by American interests, and 
much friction resulted. The embargo on silver was sub- 
sequently modified. Embargoes placed by the American 
government on export of foodstuffs have been lifted at 
various times to permit shipments of corn to Mexico, 
and, in general, many of the causes for friction between 
the two countries are disappearing. An effort to greatly 



254 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEROW 

increase the export tax on oil brought a very strong pro- 
test from the United States, and the Mexican govern- 
ment finally modified its taxation scheme. 

A cause of a certain amount of irritation exists in the 
situation in the oil district surrounding Tampico. In 
the chaotic days of 1915 and the early part of 1916 a 
local chief named Pelaez became dominant in the region. 
He enforced contributions from the various oil produc- 
ing companies, giving them, in return, protection. 
Tampico itself has been under Constitutionalist control 
for three years, but the oil producing territory, begin- 
ning only a few miles from Tampico, has been under 
Pelaez' control. The oil companies, partly due to stress 
of local conditions and partly due to lack of confidence 
in the government, have tacitly supported Pelaez — or 
have, at least, made his continuance possible through 
regular contributions. The government is determined 
sooner or later to end such a situation, as it naturally 
cannot tolerate the practical alienation of a portion of its 
territory. The oil companies fear that any move 
against Pelaez will involve a risk of the destruction of 
the oil wells. Doubtless when the government acts it 
will take all necessary measures to protect the oil fields. 
There would be little reason for referring to the ques- 
tion but for the persistent efforts of a certain group of 
newspapers in the United States to provoke trouble. 
These newspapers, under the cloak of a news service, 
have been periodically sending out a story that the Tam- 
pico oil fields were threatened with destruction, that 
the fuel supply for the British fleet was threatened, and 
that an occupation of the region by American troops 
was imminent. 

The situation in Tampico has its difficult and embar- 
rassing features, but can hardly bo called serious so far 
as relations between Mexico and the United States are 



MEXICO AKD THE WOELD WAK 255 

concerned. A mutual understanding of the difficulties 
facing both governments will, it is hoped, bring about a 
proper solution of pending questions. People who have 
studied the course of Mexican affairs during the past 
few years fully realize that there are many difficult 
problems to be solved and that much patience will be 
required on the part of all concerned. The reconstruc- 
tion period has barely begun, and no one act, either in- 
ternal or external, will bring it to a speedy conclusion. 
Neither is any one act likely to destroy what has already 
been accomplished. It is clear, however, that Mexico 
needs all the help she can get. She is somewhat chary 
about accepting help, and seemingly unduly suspicious. 
There is a tendency on both sides to quibble a good deal, 
and this is intensified by the injection of extraneous 
matters into discussions. The United States sincerely 
wants to help Mexico, and it is to be hoped that a way 
will be found to make its purpose so clear that there will 
be no question as to the cordiality and sincerity of its 
support. At the moment the greatest obstacle in estab- 
lishing close relations lies in the suspicion in Mexico as 
to the ultimate purpose of the United States. 

The Mexican oflBcial mind ran along this channel: 
" We have been fighting to establish a democratic gov- 
ernment, and throughout our revolution there have been 
insistent demands for American intervention in our af- 
fairs. Some men of prominence in the United States 
have spoken openly for a protectorate in Mexico. What 
looked to us like the advance guard of an army of occu- 
pation spent some months in Mexico. We became con- 
vinced of the sincerity of the American government when 
it withdrew its troops, and our relations greatly im- 
proved. Then came fresh complications. We are sell- 
ing our products, some at high prices, as we wish to take 
advantage of high prices prevailing the world over. 



256 MEXICO TO-DAY AISTD TO-MORKOW 

The United States objects. We want our pay in money 
we can use, and again the United States objects. We 
need corn, and the United States, which has plenty, 
will not let us have any. We fail to understand, and 
consequently are incredulous." What this line of rea- 
soning ignores is that the Mexican revolution, of vital 
interest to its leaders and to the nation, was of only inci- 
dental interest in the United States, where there was 
only an idea that there was a general row on in Mexico, 
with half a dozen factions fighting for supremacy. It 
also ignores the fact that even in American government 
circles which endeavored to keep informed there was 
only a hazy idea of what it was all about, and that in 
the general upheaval it was frequently hard to distin- 
guish the real revolution from the mass of disorder 
accompanying it. Nor is sufficient credit given Mr. 
Wilson by Mexicans for his attitude, maintained from 
the start, that Mexico should be given every chance to 
work out her own salvation. Mexican government of- 
ficials fail to realize that as a result of the disturbed 
conditions many American citizens lost their lives, that 
there was much loss in property, and that, while the Con- 
stitutionalist government was not at fault, the American 
government had a grave responsibility in the matter. 
Looking at the whole question impartially, there is no 
question but that the United States had much provoca- 
tion, and that the American government at times exer- 
cised great restraint in dealing with the situation.. As 
to questions now pending, Mexicans fail to understand 
that in the United States to-day war considerations have 
crowded everything else out of the public mind, and that 
the attitude taken by the government on various ques- 
tions was the result of a general desire to throw every 
ounce of weight into a " win-the-war " program. Ger- 
man propaganda in Mexico created something of the 



MEXICO AJSTD THE WOKLD WAE 257 

impression that the war was a fight between Great 
Britain and Germany for commercial supremacy, and 
that America was dragged in casually, largely because of 
financial considerations. Even well-informed Mexican 
government officials fail to grasp the fact that the United 
States was in the war because of the very existence of 
democratic institutions threatened, and they did not, 
therefore, understand why the war was so vital and so 
all-absorbing. To them the war seemed of incidental in- 
terest only, and they failed to see why the United States 
placed every other interest in the background. What 
appears as essential to reach a solution of pending mat- 
ters does not involve modification of principles but 
rather a better understanding on each side of the oppo- 
site viewpoint. 

A combination of various factors aided Germany 
in her propaganda in Mexico. The Mexican govern- 
ment was bitter against Great Britain for its recogni- 
tion of Huerta and its reported efforts to have Huerta 
sustained by the United States. The government was 
suspicious of the motives of the United States in the 
Pershing Expedition. France, Great Britain and the 
United States have had frequent occasion to complain 
about losses to properties owned in Mexico, while Ger- 
many, having little invested in railways, mines or public 
utility properties, has had little cause for complaint. 
Germany's trade was shut off by the war, and practically 
she had no commercial relations with Mexico. While, 
during the past four years, nearly every one of the Allied 
governments has had to discuss with M,exico a hundred 
and one questions which could cause friction, Germany 
alone, through lack of any business, was in a position 
where she could pose as a friend who was making no 
complaint. Some Mexican government officials doubt- 
less felt that if, in the future, their country should be 



258 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOREOW 

involved in trouble with the United States, they would 
be more likely to receive financial and other support 
from Germany than from any other source. Moreover, 
the German military successes during the first three 
years created a belief that Germany was going to win 
the war. The entrance of the United States in the war 
greatly modified this view. The visit of the Mexican 
editors to the United States in June of this year gave 
leaders in Mexico an idea of the potential strength of 
the country, and also did much to convince them that 
the United States was fighting, disinterestedly, for demo- 
cratic principles. President Wilson's address in wel- 
coming the editors cleared the atmosphere, especially 
with regard to the attitude of the United States toward 
Mexico. 

The general attitude of the United States in its for- 
eign relations is frequently misrepresented and often 
misunderstood in Latin- American countries. The Mon- 
roe Doctrine is the greatest possible protection for the 
Latin- American states from foreign aggression, but it is 
frequently looked on as a scheme designed to give the 
United States political and commercial dominance in the 
Western hemisphere. A good deal of this feeling has 
been due to the patronizing air sometimes carried by 
Americans in their dealings, political and commercial, 
with the people of Latin- American countries. The past 
isolation of the United States from world affairs, the 
tremendous development of industry, and the rapid ac- 
cumulation of vast wealth, have all contributed to a 
feeling of self-satisfaction in the American viewpoint. 
This, in turn, has developed the idea that our scheme 
of things should be the model for all sister republics, 
and at times expression along these lines has been pain- 
fully aggressive. Naturally, a certain amount of re- 
sentment has resulted. The American viewpoint has 



MEXICO AND THE WORLD WAR 259 

broadened since the Spanish war, as the responsibilities 
of colonial possessions have made the country realize the 
existence of many problems with which we have, previ- 
ously, never had to deal. The participation of the 
United States into the world war will further broaden 
the national viewpoint. Whatever may be said as to 
narrowness of vision, there can be little doubt as to the 
general unselfishness of purpose of the United States in 
its foreign relations. ISTo government, in dealing with 
other nations, was ever freer from commercial influ- 
ences. This has been particularly true in the case of 
Mexico — so much so that business interests have for 
some years been hostile to the administration. If com- 
mon precedent had been followed, the United States 
would have held Cuba as a normal war prize, but 
instead she has aided Cuba in establishing her own 
government and in developing her own resources. As 
a national matter, the Philippines, in money, life 
and elfort, have represented, and will, for some years, 
represent a far greater expenditure than any direct re- 
turn. Meanwhile these islands are being developed in 
material progress, in education and in political thought, 
with the steadfast purpose of enabling them to govern 
their own affairs. Porto Rico has been given a large 
measure of political independence, and will, doubtless 
within a comparatively short period, be admitted to the 
sisterhood of states. The vast improvement in the con- 
dition of the mass of people in the Philippines and in 
Porto Rico, the systematic development of education, 
the absence of any spirit of exploitation, and the high 
sense of justice displayed in administration, all indicate 
far higher ideals than are, at times, credited to our 
" dollar democracy." The United States, occupied with 
its own tremendous development, has for some years 
been apathetic about Mexico, but the best thought of the 



260 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW 

nation is sympathetic, and there is a genuine desire to 
aid the country. Owing to the disturbed conditions pre- 
vailing during the past seven years there has been consid- 
erable confusion in the public mind in the United States, 
but as conditions become better understood the wish to 
be of assistance will take practical form. With the end 
of the war, many of the causes for friction will disap- 
pear, and the way paved for more intimate and cordial 
relations. 



CHAPTER XXIII 
MEXICO AND FOREIGN CAPITAL 

The history of iall nations lias demonstrated that where 
social and political conditions were such as to call for 
reform, the longer reform was postponed the greater was 
the reaction. Mexico is no exception to the rule. Had 
the Diaz government adopted a broad policy of reform 
fifteen or even ten years ago there would have been no 
revolution. The contention that Mexico was not ready 
for a democratic form of government is, in the main, 
true, and however much the new government may wish 
to be democratic, it cannot be denied that the great 
mass of the people cannot, at the moment, take an intel- 
ligent part in the conduct of public affairs. The adher- 
ents of the Diaz scheme of governing make the error, 
however, of arguing that, because an ideal democracy 
was impossible, the only solution lay in a military dicta- 
torship. Aside from the abuses which creep in with an 
autocratic scheme of administration, the mere fact that 
the Diaz government gave no part of the people any 
voice in the nation's affairs was, in itself, sooner or later 
bound to bring on a political upheaval. The Diaz sys- 
tem not only permitted no participation in government, 
but it took no steps to prepare the public for any future 
participation. This policy, pursued over a long period, 
resulted not only in the overthrow of the autocratic 
scheme but brought into power a government with tend- 
encies to go to opposite extremes. The Diaz policy 
brought into the country a vast amount of foreign capi- 

261 



262 MEXICO TO-DAY ANB TO-MORROW 

tal, whicli was given every aid and, which, in some cases, 
was aided too much. Nothing is easier than to create 
in the popular mind the impression that capital is extor- 
tionate, and the much exaggerated idea of the benefits 
accruing to foreign capital resulted in such a demand 
for the protection of the people from exploitation that 
there was, and is, the danger of frightening capital away. 
Capital will stand active shocks, but not uncertainty, and 
the mere intangible impression that it is likely to receive 
unfair treatment would be sufScient to cause it to hastily 
withdraw from the field. 

The position of the government as to foreigners and 
foreign capital, as stated by one of its .prominent lead- 
ers, is, briefly: Mexico needs foreigners in large num- 
bers, not as promoters but as people who will take up 
farms, ranches, plantations, and industrial pursuits, and 
help develop the agricultural and other resources of the 
country ; that she must and will encourage immigration 
of the sort which will help to accomplish this ; that she 
needs and will welcome foreign capital for large public 
works, for extensions of the railway system, for banking 
and for industrial purposes ; that foreigners and foreign 
capital will be given cordial treatment, but that both 
must come with a national spirit and not for purposes 
of squeezing all they can out of the country and leaving 
as little as possible behind — or, in other words, that 
Mexico wants people who will work for the country as 
well as themselves, and capital which will re-invest some 
of its profits in further local development ; that the talk 
of Mexico for Mexicans only is absurd, but that the gov- 
ernment must first look to the welfare of its own people ; 
and, finally, that the supposed hostility to foreigners or 
foreign money is idle talk, and based solely on the fact 
that foreigners and foreign capital in Mexico have, in 



MEXICO AND FOKEIGN CAPITAL 263 

the past, been selfish, with the result of creating a cer- 
tain amount of anti-foreign feeling. 

This sounds reasonable, but implies an undue amount 
of selfishness on the part of foreigTiers. It is true that 
profits from Mexican investments made by foreigners 
have gone abroad, but it is worth while to note that, by 
and large, foreigners and foreign concerns have paid bet- 
ter wages and given better treatment to employees than 
have Mexican employers. General Obregon, who is a 
passionate nationalist, once said bitterly that if Mexican 
employers had been as considerate as foreigners in their 
treatment of labor there would have been no revolution. 
Foreigners usually paid ten or fifteen per cent, more in 
wages than Mexican employers, and exploitation of labor 
through store accounts, etc., was almost unknovni. For- 
eign capital took the labor situation as it found it, and, 
by way of good measure, added something to current 
wages. It could not be expected to take the initiative 
in social reforms. The real difficulty was a political 
one, with bad social conditions, and while reformers, on 
analysis of the facts, would recognize this, they find it 
somewhat easier and more popular to lay much of the 
blame on the foreigners. The popular feeling, or, to be 
more correct, the feeling of the middle class, is not, 
basically, so much anti-foreign as it is anti-capitalistic. 
As the largest units of capital are foreign, it is rather 
natural that the foreign element should be given more 
than their share of the blame for conditions, and the 
minimum of credit for what they have accomplished. 
Foreign concerns established in Mexico — railways, 
tramways, power plants and mines — have done a great 
deal in the way of developing skilled labor. They have 
done this, to be sure, because they needed skilled labor, 
and they have been well repaid in service. Nevertheless, 



264 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOKKOW 

they should be given the credit of having done much 
toward developing a middle class. 

Mexico has already gone so far in world-progress that 
she could not isolate herself even if she wished to do 
so. She has vast natural resources which she wishes 
to develop. She needs capital for a program of na- 
tional industrial expansion, and, as she has relatively 
no capital at home, she must look to other countries for 
it. To get it, she must give every reasonable assurance 
of just treatment, and the best assurance any new cap- 
ital could have would be to see existing investments 
treated fairly. There is, in Mexico, a good deal of a 
disposition to find fault with foreigners for things which 
are the result of natural causes. For instance, there is 
frequently a lament that such a small percentage of the 
mining industry is in Mexican hands. Mining, in the 
past two decades, has become an exact science instead 
of a huge gamble, and more money is made yearly to-day 
out of large bodies of low grade ores than was formerly 
made every decade out of rich strikes and bonanzas. 
The consequence is that mining operations to-day, to 
be successful, are usually large operations, requiring 
heavy investment in properties, mining and milling ma- 
chinery and refineries. There was not, in Mexico, the 
capital available for this sort of development, and it 
was only natural that foreign groups put their money 
into this class of enterprises. Two years ago the de- 
partment of mines in Mexico seemed to have the idea 
that, by some means or other, the large foreign holdings 
should be cut down, and something of an effort was made 
to devise legislation which would limit the holdings of 
any one company. This theory, if carried out — for- 
tunately its fallacy was seen — would have automat- 
ically curtailed production. The large properties only 
make money when running at full capacity with very 



MEXICO AND rOEEIGIT CAPITAL 265 

heavy tonnage. Three large companies in the Pachuca 
camp mine and mill a million tons of rock each year. 
If their aggregate holdings were split up into a hun- 
dred parcels no one could make any money, and produc- 
tion would be practically nil. Similarly, the hydro- 
electric development at Necaxa represents an investment 
of fifty million dollars, and without foreign capital the 
stimulus it has given to industry would not have been 
possible. 

Mexico would, doubtless, prefer a general program 
of development of her resources without foreign finan- 
cial assistance, but she has not the funds at her disposal. 
Even if some of the great works were undertaken by the 
government, the necessary money would have to come 
from abroad. If, then, she wants financial aid, she 
must be prepared to give investments good protection, 
fair treatment, and an opportunity to make a reason- 
able profit. This is all the more so when the matter of 
finding money is looked at from the viewpoint of the 
extraordinary demands created by the world-war. Cap- 
ital, the world over, is in greater demand than ever be- 
fore ; demands after the war will be great ; — in short, 
for some time capital will not have to seek far to find 
good employment. Whether for government or private 
purposes, capital will not go to Mexico in competition 
with other countries except for good security and good 
yield. 

On the other hand, capital, whether in the shape of 
existing investment or future enterprise, should fully 
recognize its obligations to the country in which it is 
employed. Eoreign investment represents a very large 
item in the total earning power of the country, and 
should be prepared to bear its full share of the burden 
of reconstruction. If all large interests and all large 
property owners endeavor to dodge their share of the 



266 MEXICO TO-DAY A:N^D TO-MOEEOW 

financial burden it will take tliree or four times as long- 
to get on a stable basis. Some foreign concerns doing- 
business in Mexico accept, without complaint, an in- 
crease of 500 per cent, in taxes at home because they 
realize that their governments need the money, but they 
object to a 50 per cent, increase of taxes in Mexico be- 
cause it is for a foreign government. They do not real- 
ize that Mexico has been and is suffering from the ef- 
fects of nearly seven years of warfare. Aside from 
the purely financial phase of the situation, they can be 
of very gTeat help by an endeavor to help the govern- 
ment to solve its various problems. Instead of open hos- 
tility or a sort of passive resistance they could accom- 
plish a good deal by trying to meet the government 
views. Some concerns, both native and foreign, have 
been perniciously active in their hostility, or stubborn 
in their resistance, and this has at times interfered with 
normal progress and even worked to their own detri- 
ment. Toreign as well as domestic concerns had a hard 
time of it; railroad service was irregular; labor was 
turbulent; bandits roamed through the country; the 
currency upset the whole scheme ; there were deficits in- 
stead of profits ; and altogether conditions discouraging 
for any one trying to do business. They had, therefore, 
much reason for complaint. Fortunately, conditions 
have greatly improved. Most of the reasons for com- 
plaint have disappeared, so that they no longer have 
the same justification for maintaining a generally an- 
tagonistic attitude. 

The labor question in Mexico is the most serious 
problem to-day. It is a real menace, and, unless prop- 
erly handled, will stop further industrial progress. La- 
bor, feeling that the revolution was for the purpose of 
aiding the working man, makes all sorts of demands 
and exactions, and is, in general, inclined to be ex- 



MEXICO AND FOEEIGN CAPITAL 267 

tremely tyrannical. According to tlie labor doctrine as 
'expounded by labor leaders and agitators, capital rights 
can be put off for indefinite future consideration. 
There are as many committees as have, by common re- 
port, sprung into existence in Eussia. Local authori- 
ties, elected to office by a labor vote, frequently do not 
attempt to weigh evidence, and are apt, in general, to 
urge compliance with demands. The great copper 
properties at Cananea closed down rather than meet 
exactions of committees. In greater or less degree, 
there have been troubles all over the country. Contin- 
uance of labor rule of a blind sort will either close down 
industry or will result in an unhealthy inflation which 
will, in the end, be disastrous for every one. The 
government, looking to the mass of people for support, 
is in a delicate position. M,anifestly, however, it must 
sooner or later realize that unreasonable labor exactions 
would be destructive to all real progress. The situa- 
tion has been complicated and clouded by high prices 
prevailing on certain foodstuffs — a condition which 
normal crops will relieve — and this doubtless, has made 
it more difficult for the government to take a decided 
position on the question. 

The experience of the grSat copper properties at 
Cananea affords an interesting and very curious exam- 
ple of the sort of difficulties brought about by the de- 
mands of labor. The mining company made various 
increases in pay and concessions of one sort or another, 
when it was met by a demand for further increase and 
for participation in profits. The employees discussed 
the question of whether the company's profits should 
be fixed at six, eight or ten per cent., the idea being to 
give employees all excess above the figure to be deter- 
mined upon. The company finally decided to close 
down rather than attempt any operation under condi- 



268 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEEOW 

tions wiiich were likely to change from day to day. All 
operations therefore ceased, and the mines — the larg- 
est copper producers in the country — were closed down 
for three months. An agreement was finally made to 
give the employees four per cent, of the net profits, and, 
under this arrangement operations were resumed. The 
mines have been running without interruption for some 
eight months, and presumably every one is satisfied. 
The settlement finally made was in striking contrast to 
some of the extravagant demands made at diiferent 
times, and the incident illustrates the uncertainty cre- 
ated by the new conditions. The same sort of diffi- 
culties have been experienced at many places. Em- 
ployees have, in the end, usually agreed to terms which 
were fair and reasonable, but often the original demands 
made have been of a prohibitive character and calcu- 
lated to discourage the employer class. 

To put foreign investments on a sound basis the re- 
quirements, briefly, ai*e: The control of labor to pre- 
vent unreasonable exactions in wages or conditions of 
work; the full reestablishment of railway service; a 
policy on the part of the government which will enable 
them to earn a reasonable return on capital invested; 
and restoration of order in the rural districts — this last 
being a problem which has already been met in some 
sections but which has not even been touched in others. 
The reorganization of the banking system is, of course, 
highly important for facilitating full commercial and 
industrial growth, but is not of as iromediate impor- 
tance as the other questions. There are, in the coun- 
try, some $180,000,000 (pesos) in gold and silver coins, 
and while the use of metal currency exclusively is cum- 
bersome, the provision of bank issues is not one of great 
urgency. The supply of currency would be insufficient 



MEXICO ANJy rOEEIGE" CAPITAL 269 

under an expanded volume of business, but takes care of 
needs for the time being. 

Two factors which will, if fully appreciated, exert an 
influence in relations between the Mexican government 
and foreign capital may be mentioned. The first of 
these is the somewhat intangible proposition that there 
has been, during the past fifteen years, a great improve- 
ment in the moral tone of large business transactions. 
This is due, in part, to the force of public opinion, and, 
in part, to the tremendous development of corporate 
business. Twenty years ago, even fifteen years ago, 
corporations were, relatively, small in size, and many 
of them were concerns formed for the sake of promo- 
tion profits. With rapid growth in size and number 
their operations attracted more attention than before, 
and this developed, in their managers and directors, a 
greater sense of responsibility, not only to their share- 
holders but to the public at large. This is, in the Mex- 
ican investment question, a matter of some importance, 
as it lessens the chance of free-booting and piratical 
promotions. It is, to-day, an actual influence. Con- 
cerns having large investments in Mexico are inclined, 
as they were not a decade ago, to realize their moral 
obligation to national interest. 

The other factor is that throughout the revolution 
the heaviest losers have been the Mexicans themselves. 
In destruction of property, in upset of business, in loss 
of income or production, the aggregate of material in- 
jury done to Mexican interests is greater than that suf- 
fered by foreign interests, and, if the matter be looked 
at with reference to the number of people affected, the 
Mexican loss is on a far greater scale. In loss of life, 
the Mexican civil population has suffered more, by 
many times, than the foreign population. In these 



270 MEXICO TO-DAY A:tsrD TO-MOEEOW 

two items no account is taken of the starvation of thou- 
sands of the poorer classes, nor the death of thousands 
from epidemics which, in sweeping over the country, 
found easy victims in the badly nourished people. The 
entire population of Mexico has suffered heavily — has 
gone through revolutions, counter-revolutions, riots, 
famine, looting, and epidemics. Foreigners having in- 
vestments in Mexico but not living there have been apt 
to look at the revolution in an abstract way, and to 
consider it only with reference to its effect on their busi- 
ness, scarcely realizing that there has been an upheaval 
which has affected all the business and all the people 
of the country. Full realization of the extent of the 
upheaval will incline people to a greater degree of tol- 
eration in considering the position of the government. 
There are, to be sure, many who hold the opinion that 
the state of disorder, approaching anarchy, which pre- 
vailed for a long period is evidence that the country 
is not ready for self-government, and that either a dic- 
tatorship or foreign intervention will be required to 
fully reestablish and maintain order. It is certain that 
any attempt to return to a military dictatorship would 
only result in plunging the country into further dis- 
order. The question then arises as to whether or not 
foreign intervention is necessary. Disregarding for the 
moment, all question of foreign investment in Mexico, 
and considering the subject from the viewpoint of the 
needs of the Mexican people themselves, would foreign 
intervention furnish the most satisfactory solution of 
the problem? Any foreign intervention would be bit- 
terly opposed by a great majority of the people, and its 
cost to the country in money and bloodshed would be 
heavy. The whole matter then resolves itself into this : 
Is the present government equal to the task of govern- 
ing the country? This, again, raises more questions. 



MEXICO AND FOEEIGIT CAPITAL 271 

Has the present government tlie moral and physical 
force necessary to control the country and to protect 
life and property? Has it a policy which, if carried 
out, will bring peace and prosperity to the nation ? Are 
the elements of weakness so great as to imperil ultimate 
success? These points may be discussed in consecu- 
tive order. The present government has certain ideals 
of reform, and these ideals have given it a moral force 
of some strength. With these, and by physical force, 
it has established its power throughout the country, and 
has, at the very least, succeeded in bringing a reason- 
able degree of order out of chaos and anarchy. The 
large centers are all under control, and government au- 
thority prevails along railway routes. There is much 
still to be done, and time will be required to finish the 
work. In a country of the great size of Mexico, with 
topographical conditions which make brigandage and 
guerilla warfare difficult to suppress, it is no easy mat- 
ter to restore peaceful conditions. Briefly then, the 
framework of government control has been erected, and 
the progress of completion will be a matter of time. 
As to the government policy, the general program, with 
the exception of danger from the tyranny of labor un- 
ions, is, on the whole,, capable of bringing peace and 
prosperity to the people. Time alone will tell whether 
the program will be applied in a sane and wise spirit. 
As to elements of weakness, the main danger is from 
certain pernicious elements in the military, but the gov- 
ernment appears to be making headway in curbing these 
turbulent and selfish spirits. An element of weakness 
exists in the lack of proper material for civil adminis- 
tration, due, in part, to the fact that a large part of the 
ablest men in the country were formerly identified, di- 
rectly or indirectly, with the old regime, and the gov- 
ernment has been naturally indisposed to utilize their 



272 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEROW 

services. As the government becomes solidified, and 
once it has demonstrated wisdom in the solution of po- 
litical and economic questions, it will receive the sup- 
port of all classes, and through this, will be able to use 
timber which, at the moment, is not available. The 
outlook, on the whole, is far from discouraging and 
gives, in fact, much hope for success. 

Foreign investors generally feel that foreign inter- 
ests in Mexico deserve special and separate considera- 
tion. ForeigTi governments will naturally be energetic 
in protecting the lives and properties of their citizens, 
and the Mexican government doubtless fully realizes 
the importance, even if only from its own selfish mo- 
tives, of providing security for life of foreigners and 
for fair play in dealing with foreign property. It may 
be assumed, however, that, generally speaking, an ad- 
ministration which will be satisfactory for the Mexican 
people themselves will be satisfactory for foreigners. 
If the government is unreasonable or unfair in its gen- 
eral attitude to capital, the result will be as disastrous 
for Mexicans as for foreigners. If legislation is un- 
sound, or the administration of justice defective, the 
Mexicans themselves will be the worst sufferers. Un- 
due alarm has been felt by foreign interests in the tend- 
ency to " nationalize " foreign companies. The general 
principle of placing foreign corporations or foreign 
properties within the control of Mexican administra- 
tion is not, in itself, either vicious or unnatural. The 
real question of importance is whether the Mexican gov- 
ernment, by its acts and in its administration of jus- 
tice, will pursue a policy under which there will be ma- 
terial and industrial progress, regardless of whether 
the capital necessary for such development be of native 
or foreign origin. 



CHAPTEE XXIV 
AGEAEIAN AND OTHER PROBLEMS 

The ultimate success of a democratic form of govern- 
ment will depend largely on the creation of a large class 
of small landholders, and the government has given a 
great deal of attention to the question. It is fully 
realized that a promiscuous distribution of land, such 
as was attempted by Madero in certain sections, will 
accomplish nothing. The peons have little initiative, 
and, while they will work well under supervision, they 
would be likely to fail as independent farmers. Many 
of them, given a piece of land, would not know what 
to do with it. They have been accustomed to work for 
wages by the day, receiving their pay daily or weekly. 
As independent farmers they would starve while wait- 
ing for their first crop. 

In certain sections there are numerous small land- 
holdings, and in such districts the people are contented 
and relatively well-to-do. The northern part of the 
state of Puebla is cut up into tiny farms, every foot 
of rich valley " bottom " land being utilized for rais- 
ing corn and beans. The country here is very moun- 
tainous, and the steepest hillsides are dotted with patches 
of corn. Riding along in the valleys one can look up 
at dizzy heights above and see farms perched in the 
most impossible positions. An incident which hap- 
pened at the tovsm of Hanchinango will give an idea of 
the character of the country. An Indian, with one 
leg fractured and three ribs broken, was brought in 

273 



274 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MORROW 

for medical treatment. One of the two Indians who 
had carried him in on a litter gravely explained that 
the man had been working on his corn patch but had 
slipped and fallen off his farm into the valley below! 
In a district like this, where farming on a small scale 
has been carried on for centuries, every man could 
qualify as an independent farmer. Unfortunately, the 
great bulk of farming has been done by large estates, 
some of these employing two or three thousand peons. 
The laborers, although accustomed to farm work, have 
been purely mechanical units all their lives, and would, 
in most cases, be quite helpless if turned loose to work 
out their own salvation on a piece of land. The gov- 
ernment is confronted, therefore, with a problem which 
not only involves some sane scheme of land distribution 
but also the selection of suitable people who can be 
depended on to make success of farming. Sehor Don 
Carlos Basave, head of the Caja de Prestamos (the 
Agrarian Loan Bank) believes it will be possible to 
place some forty thousand men on small farms each 
year, taking some from districts where small landhold- 
ings have been common, and selecting others from the 
ranks of foremen and sub-foremen on the big haciendas. 
He believes, also, that it will be essential to encourage 
immigration, particularly from Spain and Northern 
Italy, where climatic and soil conditions are similar to 
those in Mexico. Spanish and Italian farmers would 
not only prosper and add to National wealth, but their 
example would stimulate the Indian in ideas as to 
farming. It ie proposed to sell land in tracts of vary- 
ing size according to the character of the soil and cli- 
matic conditions. In the semi-tropical territory where 
the soil is rich and there is abundant rainfall, a farm 
of forty acres would be large enough for an average 
family, while in the north, where the land is only suit- 



AGEAKIAK AND OTHER PROBLEMS 275 

able for ranching, grants can be made in tracts of a thou- 
sand acres or more. Seiior Basave believes that dry- 
farming can be successfully developed on a large scale. 
The Caja de Prestamos will help finance the small 
farmer, advancing enough for equipment and making 
small monthly loans against future crops. The general 
lines along which the matter is being developed are 
sound. JSIaturally, however, much time will be re- 
quired to bring about tangible results. 

Senor Zembrano, governor of the state of IS^uevo 
Leon, advocates a military scheme of farming in order 
to obtain more immediate results. He believes that the 
large tracts of idle land should be worked by the In- 
dians under a scheme by which the laborers would be 
paid ordinary wages and would receive, in addition, a 
share in the profits. The plan would be handled under 
government supervision, and those in charge could com- 
pel idle men to work. This would not only bring quick 
results but would also serve the purpose of training 
large numbers of laborers for farm work, and the more 
efficient could be selected for grants of land. Such a 
scheme is quite feasible and could easily be the founda- 
tion of a great agrarian development. This or some 
other form of mobilization of the agricultural resources 
of the country would make an immense addition to the 
wealth of the nation, would help solve the government's 
financial problem, and would, through placing a great 
number of people at work, stimulate commerce and in- 
dustry. Mexico's potential wealth in agriculture is 
immense. Spain, with similar conditions of soil, cli- 
mate and topography, supports, in an area one-fourth 
that of Mexico, twenty-six million people. If this be 
taken as a basis, Mexico could support a hundred mil- 
lion people, and, in place of a shortage of crops for her 
own needs, she could make heavy exports. The high 



276 MEXICO TO-DAY ANB TO-MOEEOW 

prices of cereals brought about by war conditions are 
likely to continue for two or three years after the war, 
or at least until normal conditions of transportation 
have been restored and depleted stocks are brought back 
to normal. It will be regrettable if Mexico fails to take 
advantage of the situation. 

Spain's agricultural production, especially remark- 
able in view of the fact that two-thirds of the country 
is mountainous or sterile, is largely due to irrigation. 
Mexico has many great areas which could, at compara- 
tively small cost, be irrigated, and production in these 
areas would be increased four-fold. Along the whole 
eastern coast, from Puerto de Mexico north to the 
American border, mountain streams tumble down from 
the great plateau to pour into the gulf. Great stretches 
of fertile land, at an elevation of one thousand feet or 
more, are crossed by these streams and covild be easily 
irrigated. The land would have a supply of water 
throughout the whole year instead of depending on 
rainfall during a four-months' wet season. The flow 
of the Balsas Eiver, turned on the vast area of flat lands 
in the states of Guerrero and Michoacan, in Southwest- 
ern Mexico, would develop the region into one of the 
richest agricultural sections of the country. In the 
north half a dozen rivers could be utilized to water 
lands which now produce nothing. Large irrigation 
projects would involve a heavy investment, but the cost 
per acre would be very small. The increased produc- 
tion of the soil would add an immense amount to the 
wealth of the nation. There is probably no country in 
the world which has as great potential possibilities for 
agricultural development, and it is to be hoped that the 
government will be able to work out a program which 
will result in placing Mexico in the front rank of pro- 
ducing nations. 



AGEARIAN^ A:N'D OTHER PROBLEMS 277 

The peon is the great problem of Mexico. The pop- 
ular conception of the Mexican type, based on hair- 
raising " movies " and wild tales of border bandits, is 
as incorrect as the general notion entertained by many 
well-informed Mexicans that the native Indian is a 
hopeless proposition. Nine-tenths of the total popula- 
tion belong to the peon or humble working class. Two- 
thirds of all the people are pure Indians, and only one- 
tenth are pure white. The peon. class varies in char- 
acteristics in different sections of the country, but, in 
general, submissiveness and docility are common to all 
the tribes. The Indian is naturally quiet, serious, and 
peaceful. He has been a serf so long that he does no 
thinking for himself. He comes to his employer with 
all his little troubles, and wants sympathy and help. 
Like a child, he needs restraint. With restraint re- 
moved he is apt to get into mischief. He is easy to 
lead, and an unscrupulous leader can induce him to 
commit atrocious deeds. His wants are limited — a 
cotton shirt, a pair of sandals, a zarape (blanket), and 
not very much food. He is, as a rule, peculiarly loyal 
to the man he is serving, and will go through any amount 
of hardship and suffering with him or for him. He is 
affectionate, and lovable — no one can have much to do 
with the pure Mexican Indian without having a gen- 
uine affection for him. He is, intellectually, a child. 
He is apt, but quite undeveloped. His general dispo- 
sition is peaceful and submissive to a degree that is al- 
most pathetic. He will starve himself and see his fam- 
ily starve around him without uttering a word of 
complaint — but, given the upper hand, he will go to 
excesses by way of getting even. The idea that he is 
warlike and bloodthirsty by nature is entirely erroneous. 
The testimony of disinterested observers is that the pure 
Indian type played an insignificant part in the revolu- 



278 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEROW 

tionary movement. The pure Mexican Indian is not, 
bj nature, a figliter. He wants a job or merely a chance 
to till his patch of land — if he is fortunate enough to 
have one. He is, like most people of a primitive type, 
quite indifferent to suffering, and has little regard to 
the value of human life — his own or that of any one 
else. Eor years it was the custom on construction jobs 
— railways, power plants, and the like — to pay fifty 
pesos — twenty-five dollars — as compensation for fatal 
accidents to employees. Fifty pesos in coin, and all at 
once, was ample compensation for the loss of a husband 
or a father. The average Indian mind could not think 
more than fifty pesos' worth. Small wonder, then, that 
the average killing was an incidental affair. 

It must not be assumed, however, that the Indian is 
in any way deficient. He not only has ability along 
initiative lines, but has, and always has had, a distinct 
ability in mechanical matters. The history of early 
Mexican civilization shows a high degree of inventive 
ability. Stone was hewn and carved with wonderful 
ability and accuracy, and huge blocks of stone were 
moved great distances or erected into pyramids and 
buildings with seemingly comparative ease. Some 
American engineers, passing through the valley of the 
Laxaxalpan River, in the state of Puebla, came across 
an extremely ingenious device used by an Indian to 
irrigate his land. The Indian's corn patch, covering 
perhaps ten acres, was on a " bench " some fifteen or 
eighteen feet above the level of the stream. The Indian 
had rigged up a huge water-wheel, some thirty-five feet 
in diameter, built of wood and bamboo and carrying 
a large number of buckets, the latter being simply five- 
gallon gasoline cans obtained from the nearest town. 
The force of the stream drove the wheel around, and 
each bucket scooped up a couple of gallons of water. 



AGEARIAIT ANT> OTHER PROBLEMS 279 

spilling it into a trougli when the bucket reached the 
top of the wheel. The whole device was crude and 
simple, and was tied together with bits of thong, hemp 
and rope. It creaked and groaned a lot — but the In- 
dian, day in and day out, had a steady stream of water 
running through the length of his little farm. The In- 
dian said the idea was his own, and, as the location 
was in a remote mountain valley, there could be little 
doubt but that he was entirely truthful in this. He 
could neither read nor vn:ite, and only knew a little of 
the Spanish language, speaking practically nothing but 
the native Indian dialect, and yet he had devised and 
installed a somewhat cumbersome but very practical 
means of raising water. 

At various times during the past four years prac- 
tically all Americans have been obliged, in response to 
orders from the American government, to leave the 
country, sometimes very precipitately. At such times 
tramway and power stations, and large and complicated 
mechanical installations at mines and factories, nor- 
mally operated by expert American mechanics, had to 
be left in the hands of Mexican understudies. When 
the Americans returned, a month or two later, they al- 
most invariably found things running as smoothly as 
ever. The Mexican " subs," many of whom had come 
to the plants perfectly green two or three years before, 
had developed sufficiently to fully understand all the 
machinery, and had been equal to every emergency 
which had arisen. The pure Indian race has produced 
civil and mechanical engineers who would take good 
rank in any country. The mind of the Indian lad of 
eighteen is as naturally alert as that of any American 
boy. He may not reason as quickly, but that is usually 
because of poor schooling. His faculties simply need 
training. Full development of these faculties, when 



280 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOEROW 

applied to a race, means patient work through, two or 
three generations. Reforms in the political systems 
started to-day may not bear fruit for many years. The 
general problem of elevating the social status of the race 
will occupy public and private attention for half a 
century before anything like large results are seen. 
IN^evertheless, a start has been made along these lines, 
and ultimately much will be accomplished. The chief 
danger to success will be in anxiety to do much in too 
short a space of time, with a consequent tendency to- 
ward superficial instead of real improvement. Prof. 
Ozuna, a broad-minded educator who has already accom- 
plished much in the extension of education in Mexico, 
enrolling over 75,000 pupils in the grade schools in the 
Federal District, once observed that the great fault of 
the previous regime in educational matters had been 
in considering that its obligations were fulfilled when 
a fine string of school edifices had been dedicated. 

The Mexican Indian is, in most respects, where he 
was before the Spanish conquest. Such civilization as 
he had developed was wiped out, and the invaders gave 
him nothing to take its place. Tor three hundred years 
he was a slave. Mexican independence accomplished 
little for him in its first half century. The French oc- 
cupation was, for him, a blank, and the period following 
it was of such turmoil and disorder that no progress was 
made. Then came a period of great development under 
Diaz, with railways and factories and electricity — and 
still the Indian stayed, socially, where he had been for 
centuries. Then came the Madero revolution, followed 
by four years of chaos, from which has emerged a gov- 
ernment committed to a program which, if carefully 
carried out and adhered to year after year, will accom- 
plish much. The Indian has lost four centuries of 
time. His national development, so rudely stopped by 



AGEAEIAI^ AI^D OTHER PEOBLEMS 281 

Cortes, must now be resumed, and, aided by other civil- 
ization and by the breadth of Twentieth Century prog- 
ress, must give him an opportunity to take his place 
with other peoples. 

Mexico, as a country, possesses as great natural wealth 
as any country in the world. Its wealth is in its soil. 
An English statesman once said that a country whose 
wealth was in the soil was like a pyramid with a great 
base : a shock, no matter how great, would not upset it, 
and could only do superficial damage. Mexico has suf- 
fered, ever since 1911, from more or less continuous 
fighting, has had every sort and kind of disorder and 
trouble, and has, only within the last year, shown real 
signs of emerging from her difficulties. Her real 
wealth has not been affected. Her riches are in wheat 
and corn, in cattle, oil, hemp, gold, silver, copper, tim- 
ber, fruits, coffee, tobacco, sugar, chocolate, and a thou- 
sand and one products of the soil. In two decades she 
has produced a billion dollars' worth of gold and silver. 
Her oil fields, producing eight million barrels of oil per 
month, have potential possibilities of producing a bil- 
lion barrels of oil every year. Her vast forests of pine 
and mahogany have sufficient timber to supply the whole 
continent. With a climate which makes harvests pos- 
sible the year around, with rich soil and an abundance 
of streams, she has the means to produce sufficient crops 
to feed a nation six times as great as her own. Eor in- 
dustry she has iron and coal. A hundred streams, tum- 
bling down a mile and a half on their way to the sea, 
have potential power equal to half a dozen iN'iagaras. 
She is rich — immensely rich. Few countries have 
such recuperative powers. Her period of reconstruc- 
tion is just begun. Her development may, at first, be 
slow, but, once set in motion, will push forward at an 
amazing pace. It has been awakened by a violent ex- 



282 MEXICO TO-DAY AND TO-MOREOW 

plosion. The forces set in motion have not yet had 
time to take any definite direction, nor has the nation 
had time to adjust its thoughts to the new order of 
things. There are excesses, there are extremes, there 
are a dozen great problems as yet unsolved. -The pes- 
simist sees, in the violence of the change, nothing but 
a halt in industry, a set-back in progress. To the opti- 
mist the revolution, in spite of all its ills, means the 
opening of a new era, of incentive developing initiative, 
and initiative pushing forward to success. 



THE END 



I 



PBINTBD IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 



'T^HE following pages contain advertisements of a 
few of the Macmillan books on kindred subjects 



Mexico: The Wonderland 
of the South 

By W. E. CARSON 

New edition; revised with additions. Illustrated, 8vo, $2.50 

Mr. Carson knows Mexico thoroughly and he has drawn an 
accurate and fascinating pen picture of the country and of the 
people, of their everyday life and the everyday sights and scenes. 
It would be hard to discover anything worth seeing that he has 
not seen. He has wandered around the Mexican capital and 
other old cities ; he has explored the gold and silver mines and 
visited some of the quaint health resorts ; he has gone mountain 
climbing and tarpon fishing — and he tells of these many experi- 
ences in a most entertaining manner. 

" The most informing and readable account of the country that 
has been published ; an excellent background against which to 
view the present crisis." — New York Globe. 

" In this revised and enlarged edition of his book on Mexico, 
Mr. W. E. Carson gives a compendious, concise and clear state- 
ment of the history of that country from the time of Diaz to the 
accession of Huerta, and an analysis of the present conditions." 
— 'Boston Globe. 

" Interest in Mexico and Mexicans is now universal ; Mr. Car- 
son has written a lively and interesting book. When President 
Diaz ruled, he resided in Mexico for a oonsiderable period, and 
just before the iron dictator's exit he tmdertook a comprehensive 
tour as a newspaper correspondent. He has seen and studied, 
and sifted his impression at leisure. He writes with candor, and 
with reliability." — Boston Daily Advertiser. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York 



" The most comprehensive and certainly the clearest and most 
illuminating work that has yet been written on the history and 
present conditions of the South American Republics." — San 
Francisco Chronicle. 



South America: 

Observations and Impressions 

By JAMES VISCOUNT BRYCE 

Former British Ambassador 

Author of " The American Commonwealth," " The Holy Roman 

Empire," etc. 

New and revised edition. 
Colored maps, cloth covers, gilt top, $2.^5 

WORLD-WIDE OPINIONS 

" An exhaustive accotmt of South America by that keen observer of inter- 
national affairs. Ambassador James Bryce . . . destined to rank as an au- 
thoritative work." — • A'^. Y. Times. 

" A gift for which to thank the gods. It is impossible to give more than 
a faint hint of all the wealth of reflection, observation, and learning in these 
chapters. The whole book is memorable, worthy of the topic and the man." 
— London Daily Chronicle. 

" A book which compels thought. A work of profound interest to the 
whole of South America. Every chapter of Mr. Bryce's book would pro- 
vide material for an entire volume." — Translation from the State Journal 
of St. Paul, Brazil. 

" A wonderfully fascinating and informative work . . . will enhance Mr. 
Bryce's reputation as a keen, scholarly, and analytical commentator on the 
people and governments of the world." — Philadelphia Record. 

" One of the most fascinating books of travel in our language. ... A 
valuable political study of the chief South American states." — London 
Daily Mail. 

" A comprehensive work devoted to the continent from the pen of the 
man best fitted to comment impartially on what he has witnessed. . . . This 
new book by the distinguished ambassador should find a place in every well- 
equipped library." — Boston Budget. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue Hew York 



NEW HISTORIES OF SPAIN AND SPANISH 
AMERICA 

The Rise of the Spanish Empire in 
the Old World and in the New 

By ROGER BIGELOW MERRIMAN 

In four volumes with maps. Vols. I and II. $7.50 the set. 

This work, the first two volumes of which are now published, 
aims to show the continuity of the story of the reconqliest of 
Spain from the Moors and of the conquest of her vast dominions 
beyond the seas. The first volume deals principally with the nar- 
rative and constitutional history of the different Spanish king- 
doms in the middle ages, and with the growth of the Aragonese 
Empire in the western basin of the Mediterranan. The second 
volume describes the union of the crowns and the reorganization 
of Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella. This history forms an 
indispensable background for the study of Spanish America. 

" Another Prescott ! . . . History as it should be written . . . 
scholarship, erudition, accuracy and just proportions — yes, he 
has all these, but they are subordinated to an eagerness, a posi- 
tive enthusiasm to make the past human and alive." — New York 
Sun. 

The History of Spain 

By CHARLES E. CHAPMAN 

$2.60 

The whole sweep in the evolution of Spanish life, from the 
earliest times to the present, has been brought within the compass 
of a single volume. There have been other one-volume histories 
of Spain, but they have confined themselves almost wholly to the 
political European history. Dr. Chapman has seen fit to lay more 
stress on the changing social, political, economic, and intellectual 
institutions of Spain, and has never forgotten that the goal of 
Spanish history for American readers is, not Europe, but the 
United States and Hispanic America. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York 



Behind the Battle Line 

Around the World m 1918 

By MADELEINE Z. DOTY 

Cloth, $1.25 

What were the women of the world thinking and planning for 
the future? Miss Doty wanted to find out and that was why she 
made a trip around the world. Since the war our interests have 
become world-wide. To know what America is doing is not 
enough. This volume takes the reader into the heart of each 
land. It tells about Autocratic Japan, Awakening China, Turbu- 
lent Russia, Materialistic Sweden, Vital Norway, Democratic 
England and Inspiring France. It shows the difference in man- 
ners, customs and civilization and what the people are thinking 
and dreaming. It depicts the great spiritual struggle that along 
with the physical battle engulfs the world. And particularly do 
the women of the earth shine forth. The author sees them as 
an army of mothers joining hands the world around, an army 
consecrated to the race to come, that the freedom for which men 
bleed and die may be made permanent. 

Brazih Today and Tomorrow 

By L. E. ELLIOTT 

With illustrations and maps; decorated cloth, 8°, $2.25 

" Brazil Today and Tomorrow by Lillian Elwyn Elliott af- 
fords a much heeded presentation of affairs and conditions in 
Brazil. The author has a notable faculty for presenting closely 
condensed material in modest space and at the same time making 
it interesting. Her intimate knowledge of the people and their 
life and of the varied conditions of the country has enabled her 
to write of them with a certain zest that makes her pages always 
readable." — New York Times. 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 

Publishers 64-66 Fifth Avenue New York 



